Goddess
by Fae Faythe
Summary: After vanishing for five years, Artemis is back, swearing her allegiance to both the League and the Light. But where do her true loyalties lie?
1. Chapter 1

No one noticed the blonde girl sitting alone in the small cafe. Everyone knew who she _was_, of course, but no one really saw her. That girl with the weird name, the girl from America. Took classes at the local college, got along well with her classmates and professors. Kept to herself mostly. So no one noticed when a tall, red-haired boy walked over to the little table she was sitting at and sat down beside her.

No one saw her tense, her gray eyes flashing with lightning and fire. No one saw the knife she was fiddling with under the table.

"I thought that the last time we talked, I made it clear that I didn't want to see you anymore," the girl said quietly, even pleasantly, not looking up from her book.

"Please," the boy said, his voice thick with emotion, his long red hair hanging in front of his eyes. "I'm only the messenger. They're calling you in."

"Right. Three years and they send you?" She grinned unpleasantly. "Daddy's got a sick sense of humor. What's the job?"

"I don't know the details. Something about a scientist that they want to whack."

"Interesting. Was he not cooperative? I know how Savage gets when he's pissy."

"I wouldn't know. They don't really tell me much."

"You don't ask," the girl retorted. "You don't care. You distance yourself from them because you still want to get in good with the League."

"Like you can talk," the boy snapped, slapping his hand on the table. "Where have you been the last five years?"

"I had some stuff to deal with. I assume that you've got my ticket back Stateside? First-class, I hope." The boy handed her the ticket, swearing under his breath. "Thank you. There's a good clone," she added under her breath, standing. The boy shot to his feet, grabbing her wrist and pressing his lips to hers, kissing her more fiercely when she didn't pull away or stab him.

"Tongue piercing," he said, smiling roguishly when he'd broken away. "That's new."

"You know what else is new?" she said, whispering against his mouth. "Mild hallucinogen and sedative inlaid in the shell casing that dissolves on contact with saliva that isn't mine." Already she could see the effects taking their toll. She smiled, pushing a lock of red hair out of his face, almost... _affectionately,_ and kissing him on his unshaven cheek. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!"

"Tigress, welcome back. It seems as if your time abroad has served you well." Ra's said, embracing her. "And do I detect a slight English accent?"

"You do, though I didn't just stay is jolly ol' London. I'm sure the Brain will be enamored with my new-found grasp of his language," she said, smiling. "And yes, before you ask, I managed to find everything I was looking for. Observe." The girl spun, snatching a knife out of the long black overcoat she was wearing, smiling as it began to emit blue sparks and sizzle.

"Ah, you have mastered that elusive ability. I thought that you had lost it."

"Me too. Turns out being wrong once in a while isn't such a bad thing. Is my dad around? Or Savage? Apparently they need me." She smiled. "And between you and me, Sensei, I was getting bored. The quiet life isn't for me."

"I am surprised that you lasted for as long as you did."

"I'm surprised that you let me."

"Savage is in the control room. He will brief you."

"_Merci_, Sensei." The girl said, bowing slightly. She made her way through the halls of he HQ that she'd come to know so well, her steps silent as she walked. She had learned a lot overseas. Maybe a little too much. She knew where to find Vandal Savage.

"Welcome home, Tigress," the enormous man said in his booming voice.

"Good to be home," she said, quickly growing tired with chit-chat. She'd come halfway around the world. If there was an assignment for her, she wanted it. Now. "Now, you said that you had an assignment for me?"

"Impatient, are we?" The girl only glared. "Right." Pictures flashed upward onto the large computer monitor. Some scientist, judging by the glasses and white lab coat. His face was familiar to her – she'd been through the Light's database and knew who they were watching. There was some kind of technology that they wanted from him.

"I'm guessing that he didn't get what you wanted, yes? The technology that you wanted? And now that he knows that you're interested, you want him gone." The man on the screen was Doctor Ted Kord, brilliant scientist who'd apparently discovered the secret to artificial intelligence. And had been stupid enough to refuse to give it to the Light.

"You're quick."

"It's not hard to figure out. So, you want an accident, or do you just want him to vanish?"

"Accident. Kord has strong ties within the League. If he simply disappears off of the grid, the heroes will know that we have not stayed our hand."

"Oh, good, I love the creative assignments. Mind if I take a look at his office schematics? Chemical fires are _so_ very dangerous, don't you know. Especially when they're paired with...electricity," she said, with a wicked grin, sparks flying from her fingers. Vandal Savage nodded, grinning himself and exited the room without question.

"Hey, kiddo!" Sportsmaster. News traveled fast in the criminal underworld. It had only taken him about an hour to hear that she was back in the States and to come find her.

"Hiya, Dad. Want to help me with this?"

"Ah, Ted Kord. He's an arrogant son of a bitch. I heard that he was on the list. Too bad he wasn't my assignment. What's the problem?"

"This whole place is laced with League security. More than I've ever broken into before."

"So set off the alarm. Make it look like a robbery gone bad."

"Won't work, this needs to look like entirely his own fault or they'll get suspicious. This is why they didn't want you to do it. Not your style. You are into shock-and-awe tactics, not anything even remotely sneaky. Oh, and by the way, can you please tell Savage or Ra's or whoever has that clone on a leash that the next time it's sent to collect me, it'll come back neutered. Assuming you haven't done that already."

Sportsmaster let out a booming laugh that rang in her ears. "I like you so much better like this. You were so moral before."

"I don't like speaking of before. And I have an plan. See you later, Daddy." She began to walk out, but stopped halfway out the window. "Oh, and Daddy? Tell Savage that I know about the tracking beacon under my skin. Thanks for the trust. I appreciate it. I do."

* * *

"Excuse me!" The frumpy security guard growled at the girl in the long dark coat standing outside the door. It was raining hard and her blond hair was plastered to her head, her eyes wide and pleading. "Can you help me, please? I – I just got mugged. He...he hit me and t-t-took my purse. Please, c-can I just use your phone to call the police?"

"Of course, come on in," the security guard said, opening up the door to the Kord Omniversal building. "Can I get your name? For the report I'll have to submit at the end of the shift."

"Oh, of course," she said, slipping into the building and slipping a small patch similar to a Band-Aid onto his arm. In an instant, the guard's eyes unfocused and he stood up ramrod straight, as if held up by invisible strings. "Now, I want you to put those cameras on a loop and get me up to Dr. Kord's lab. Disable the alarms. Make it so I was never here, will you?"

"Of course," the guard said in a dead-sounding voice, ambling over to the security desk and pressing the elevator button. The girl smiled, nodding in mocking thanks. She was so glad that the Light had developed those little patches. Made a job like this so much easier. Less blood.

As the elevator traveled up towards the laboratory, the lights began to flicker as the girl's smile grew and grew.

"Doctor," she called, striding into the lab, the lights overloading and shattering in her wake. "I think I have an appointment." It wasn't much to look at. Tables and tables of chemicals and gadgets. Solid metal walls and tables, everything shining in chrome. Fancy place, lit by overhead lights and

"Take one more step and I'll shoot." The girl's smile widened as she stepped forward.

"Go on then," she challenged, spreading her arms wide. The doctor raised the gun, just as the light over his head shattered and the lab went completely dark. Kord grunted as the girl knocked him over, shoving her forearm into his throat. The scientist choked, gasping for air, before twisting something into her gut. The girl hissed in pain, her gray eyes going dark.

"You will never get my life's work," Kord shouted at her, raising the gun. She braced herself to dodge the bullet, but the scientist threw something out of the window, then pressed the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger.

"No!" she shouted, but it was too late. Kord was dead.

"Hands where I can see them." Slowly the girl turned, seeing a boy in a black superhero costume, emblazoned with some kind of blue bird on the chest. Longish black hair covered his forehead, only the longest strands sweeping the edges of the checkered mask he wore over piercing blue eyes. Blue eyes that she knew.

"Fine," she said, raising gloved hands over her head. "But _damn,_ Boy Wonder. If I'd have thought that you were going to turn out this handsome, I would've left long before I did."

"Oh my God," the figure said, his mouth dropping open in surprise. The girl grinned, snatching up a beaker and sending an electric pulse through it. In seconds, the chemical within ignited and she threw it down, sending flames spiraling everywhere.

Nightwing leaped out of the way of the building inferno, trying to catch her again, but there was only a flash of blonde hair vanishing out of the window and into the rain and she was gone. But, though five years had gone by, he'd recognized her just as easily as she had him. After five years of searching and agonizing, now one thing was very, very certain.

Artemis was back.

* * *

**And so am I. Also, I tried very hard to have this up today because it is the one year anniversary of my publishing Who is She and becoming a member of this site. Cheers and please leave lengthy reviews!**

**~Fae**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Thank you to all of the wonderful people who reviewed, read and added me to their watch lists! Special thanks to:

_** Esmeralda 2.0:**_ I have so much planned for this. I'm so excited to see it all play out!

_** Allie:**_ Well, the unpredictablity is all part of the fun, is it not?

_**memyshadow:**_ She does have a death wish, but then again, she has always had one. And the whole odd reception by the Light thing is explained here, never fear

_**LuvStruckWriter**_: Ahhh! Don't hate me for the time-skip *hides*

_**ImaniSechelles:**_ Awww! I hope you stick with me, thank you!

_**Dark Goddess Of Shadows**_: Dick Grayson and Artemis: BFFs!

_** LadyMysteri:**_ Took me FOREVER to come up with a title, but I like this :D

_**itoldyouso2718**_: The redhead was Roy, and you'll see

_** J-Bird:**_ Eh, don't feel bad for clone-Roy. He had it coming.

_** Nightlight753:**_ THANK YOU for appreciating the genuis that was the tongue-piercing. I was very proud of that, thank you very much.

_**artemisred arrow 4ev**_e: I will say nothing about the ships I'm shipping at this time ;)

* * *

Artemis walked into the old apartment she knew so well, a ghost of a smile forming on her lips, though it was tinged with nervousness. She didn't know how her mom was going to react to her sudden reappearance. And after everything Paula Crock had been through in the past five and a half years, Artemis wasn't even sure that she'd be welcome back. She knew that Zatanna wasn't living here anymore – oh, her mother had insisted on her staying, but the magician hadn't felt right about living in the apartment of her friend who'd gone missing.

"Hey, Mom," she said quietly, taking off her sunglasses. "How are you doing?"

"Artemis!" Paula Crock said, looking up from the television. "Artemis! Oh, _con gái, _I am so glad to see you. How was Europe?"

"It was great, really great. I had a good time."

"Are you home for good? Does Oliver know? Does the League know?"

"Mom, we talked about this. I'm trying to get away from all that."

"You know, Roy has been looking for you lately. As has Richard. They both came to visit me while you were abroad."

"And what did you tell them?"

"My loyalty is to you, _con gái, _not the League. I told them that I didn't know where you were. But will you be staying, Artemis?"

"Yeah, I'll be around. But I got my own place, over on the other side of the city. You could come and move in with me, if you want." That part wasn't supposed to have slipped out. Artemis had thought about reaching out to her – the monthly checks to pay for rent notwithstanding – while she was away, but the threat of the League being able to track her was too dangerous.

"Now, Artemis. You said that you wanted to lay low. Your League friends have been watching me for five years. I think moving in with my vigilante daughter would be a bit of a red flag, no?" Reacting on a sudden impulse, Artemis reached down and wrapped her arms around her mother's shoulders.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love you, Mom."

"And I you, _con gái_,"

"I'll be in touch." Artemis said, squeezing her mom's shoulder one more time before vanishing out the door of the apartment.

* * *

"The camptown ladies sing this song, doo-da, doo-da. The camptown racetrack's five miles long, oh de doo-da day." The elderly butler stiffened as another voice began singing along – a voice coming from his kitchen.

"Hi, Alfred," the voice said. The Wayne's butler and trusted friend was shocked to see a young woman with golden hair rolling dough out on his counter-tops, once gleaming and now covered with flour. She looked up at him, a sunny smile lighting up her face, her gray eyes sparkling like some rare, unknown gemstone. "_Spero che vi piaccia cannolis_. I figured I owed you for all those cookies you sent me."

"I do love cannolis," Alfred answered her Italian in English, unable to keep his eyes off of the girl in his kitchen. It was Artemis, no doubt about it, but she was different. She looked older, that was for sure, but there was also an air of ease about her that she'd never possessed before. A confidence of sorts. "But I'm sure I don't know what you mean about sending you care packages. A League asset sending things to a League fugitive? That wouldn't be looked well on at all." Artemis laughed as the old man winked at her.

"Oh, and I know me being here makes you uncomfortable. I'm sorry about that. But if you're going to let someone know about me, would you mind hitting the blue button, not the black one?" She grinned at the brief look of surprise that flashed over Albert's features. "I can see the remote in your hand. Two panic buttons, and you're obligated to push one of them. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"And for that, I thank you, Miss Artemis."

"Oh, Christ, Alfred, it's Artemis. Please. I'm twenty-one, I stopped being a "miss" a while back."

"You will always be that scrappy fifteen-year-old to me, Miss Artemis," Alfred said with a smile. "And Master Dick is on his way." Artemis held in a groan. After their little encounter last night, this was going to end all kinds of badly.

"Right. I'd clear out if I were you, Alfred. This is going to get dicey."

"Heavens. Please don't break the kitchen, will you? I worked hard on the remodel."

"I noticed that. Looks good, by the way. Oh, and here," she tossed him a Tupperware container filled with cannolis. "For the road. These are just the second batch."

"Thank you kindly. And Artemis?" he said, halfway out the door. "It is lovely to see you again."

"Likewise. Thanks, Alfred."

Artemis continued rolling out cannoli dough once Alfred had left, singing softly to herself in Italian. She'd enjoyed Italy. Good good, hot guys. What not to like? Not as much fun as, say, Budapest, but still a good time overall.  
"Artemis." She looked up, smiling at Dick as he entered the kitchen, taut as a bowstring. Damn. Five years and the skinny thirteen-year-old she'd known had turned into someone girls _had _to be throwing themselves at. He had gotten hot... what with the cut body as a result of the rigorous hero lifestyle, and the way his raven hair fell over his piercing blue eyes. But, now, there was something childishly vulnerable in the way he looked at her, something that contrasted with the tense way he held himself, as if he couldn't decide whether to hug or attack her.

"Hey, kid," she said softly. "Cannoli?"

For a moment he didn't say anything. But then, Dick snapped. He snarled wordlessly, smashing his fist into the wall so hard that it left a crater. Temper, temper. Artemis didn't remember him being so much of a hot head. Had so much really changed?

Yes. She could already answer that. "That's it?" Dick shouted, banging his hand against the marble counter-top. "Five years of radio silence. Five years of not knowing if you were dead or alive, not knowing if you were working for the other side...after five years of hell, all you can think to do is offer me a _cannoli_?"

"Well," Artemis said coolly. "If you don't want one then fine. But, seriously, dude, these are damn good cannolis."

"How can you joke about this? Does Wally know that you're back? Does Oliver? Does _your mom_?"

"No, no, and no." Artemis said, lying on the account of her mother. Paula didn't need to get mixed up in League business, especially since it was about to get messy. "No one knows that I'm here. Except for you."

"Well, are you going to explain then?" Dick said, his eyes hardening into chips of blue ice. "Or are you just going to vanish again? Isn't that your pattern? Rush into a situation without thinking and then run away when it goes badly?" He froze as the words left his mouth, wishing he could take them back. "Artemis... I – "

"No, you're right," she said, her eyes meeting his, no longer sparkling with amusement. "It's what I do. I run away. I always have; it's what I'm good at." She quietly started putting the dough away and cleaning up her mess. Dick just watched her work, awed at the difference between the girl who'd left and the one who had returned in her place. She was quieter now, but there was still the overlying sense of danger that screamed in her every movement. She was still Artemis, that much was clear, if grown up a bit. Or a hell of a lot. But he didn't trust her. How could he, after everything? In his heart of hearts, he knew that he wanted to – so badly, he wanted his best friend back – but she could be anyone.

He didn't know her anymore.

"Come on, Boy Wonder," Artemis said with a smile. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"Somewhere without security cameras where we can talk."

"Right," Dick said, preparing himself explode into motion. "Because the last little 'talk' we had went over so well. That may have worked when we were kids, but not now. You know that I spent three weeks detoxing from the neurotoxin you pumped into me?"

"I'm not going to drug you this time. You don't have to come. But if you don't, I doubt you'll see me again. And if I know you, the mystery will kill you."

"What, if you don't?" Dick snapped.

"Don't be petty." Artemis said coolly, not rising to the bait. She turned to him, her eyes wide open, not guarded in the slightest. "Dick, I'm trying to make things right. So will you stop being a hurt little boy for half a second and give me a chance?"

"You get one shot, Artemis. That's it."

"If I thought that's all I needed, I wouldn't have bothered with the domestic approach." Artemis said, slipping on her jacket. "Come on, Boy Wonder."

* * *

"I'll have a chai, please," Artemis ordered her coffee drink, then gestured to Dick. "You want anything? My treat."

"I'm fine." Dick said stiffly.

"He'll have a frozen mocha," Artemis ordered for him.

"I told you I didn't want anything."

"And I ignored you," Artemis replied, her voice still pleasant and soft.

"Artemis. Stop playing games. If you've got something to say, say it."

"You're still being that hurt little boy. But fine. I'll throw you a bone. June 11th, December 26th, February 3rd, and May 15th." She ticked the dates off of her fingers as she said them.

"Are those supposed to mean something to me?" Dick snapped, clearly not having any part of this little game.

"They should." Artemis said. "Think about it. It'll come to you."

"They were all missions."

"Good, yes, go on," Artemis said, thanking the barista when she returned with the tea and coffees. "Keep thinking."

"Missions overseas." Dick said slowly, his blue eyes widening when he finally made the connection. "That was all you?"

"What was all her?" Artemis could feel her hackles rising on a five-year-old instinct. She turned, seeing Hannah Tate, the old princess of Gotham Academy standing over them. She hadn't changed much in five years, except for maybe getting skinnier and now wearing a lot more makeup. Artemis swore under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Hell, Richard," Hannah said sultrily, her voice attempting seduction. She turned to Artemis with a sneer. "And you are?"

"Amy Pond," Artemis said, twisting her vowels until her voice was disguised with a distinct English accent. "Nice to meet you..."

"Hannah Tate, but you probably already knew that," she said, flipping her hand over her shoulder. Artemis wanted to lash out, but Dick spoke up, taking her opportunity.

"Amy is my girlfriend from overseas," he said quickly. Artemis looked at him, surprised to say the least.

"Oh." Hannah said. "Well then. I'll see you around Richard. Amy," she said as an afterthought, her voice considerably colder. Artemis waved and watched as her old schoolyard enemy walked out of the cafe.

"So I'm your girlfriend now?" Artemis asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

"Just as much as you are British." Dick shot back, but her couldn't help but smile. "Very convincing accent, by the way. Hannah's been trying to get me to go out with her for years. I figure that this would finally make her stop."

"Ah, clever." Artemis said, grinning.

"I know. I learned from the best. Unfortunately you were overseas that day." Dick quipped. "And those dates. They were missions abroad."

"Right." Artemis agreed. "And in every single one of them, you were close to blowing it. The whole mission was being shot to hell, then suddenly got better. The bad guy was shot, or the technology re-stolen. None of you could explain how it happened, right? Right."

"So you were keeping tabs on us." Dick said softly.

"I kept my promise," Artemis said, her eyes shining with sudden intensity. "I never left you. If I heard that you were in my part of the world, I checked in. If you were doing fine, I left it alone. But I always helped when you needed me."

"But where did you _go_?" Dick insisted.

"Here, there, everywhere. I had to take care of some things."

"But what about Roy? He's working for the Light now?"

"Yes." Artemis said, swallowing hard. "And so am I. That's why I was at the lab last night before you ran in on me."

"You killed him." Dick said, his eyes burning with rage.

"No, you moron!" Artemis said sharply. "He killed himself before I could make it look like an accident." She looked down, feeling a wave of self-loathing rush over her like a black tide. She should've saved him.

"So, what? You're in with the baddies now? You expect me to believe that they just welcomed you on board, no questions asked? Now you're part of the evil family."

"Not exactly." Artemis said, rolling her eyes. "Queen Bee isn't a fan, neither is Klarion. I've got bad blood with both of them. Or, they think that I did. They also think that I'm Tigress now, just so you know. Actually, now that I think about it, it's only Savage, my dad and Ra's that really like me. Huh. Whatever, I'm not supposed to be loveable."

"Is this a joke to you? You vanish, turn on us and then come back and try to screw with my head?"

"Dick." Artemis said coolly. "Well, first off, everything is a joke to me. How else would I get through the day? And no, idiot, I'm not doing this to hurt you. I wanted to make things right. You're my best friend and I'm just trying." Artemis paused, collecting herself. "I'm doing the best I can. You have to believe that I'm still on your side. And actually, I need a favor."

"Seriously?" Dick snapped. "_You_ want a favor from _me_?"

"I want to add someone to your little team. The Light sent me last night to steal some kind of freethinking technology from Kord. But I've been doing some research and it's more than that. If I can track it down, I can find it and make sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."

"So.." Dick trailed off, not wanting to believe that she was telling the truth. "You didn't kill Kord?"

"No. I told the Light that I did, but he shot himself. And for that, I'm sorry. But he also sent his tech flying away before I could grab it. It's in the wind now and I have to find it before the Light does."

"So you're a double-agent?"

"Dear, God, you're slow on the uptake, aren't you?" Dick grinned despite himself. That sounded more like the Artemis he remembered. "Dick. Come on. I don't care if you trust me, but give me this one chance. I'll prove myself to you."

Dick didn't want to say yes. He wanted to call Batman and turn her in, he really did. How could he trust her.

How could he not? She had come clean. She had been honest. She hadn't killed that scientist and was trying to bring the technology he'd been working on to the League. If she was telling the truth, then the League would gain invaluable information – not to mention a spy within the Light.

But if she was lying...then they were all screwed eight ways from Sunday. Dick recognized that Artemis hadn't been actively working in the past five years and he shuddered to think of the damage she could do if she was actually pitted against them.

Dick took a deep breath. "You've got one shot."

* * *

**So...which side is she on, again? Please review!**

**~Fae**


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. You all are amazing!

**Summer Frost 13: **This is indeed the third book in the trilogy. However, it underwent the 5 year time-skip as the show, so I cam weave some episodes into the writing

**LuvStruckWriter:** Ahahaa, you may never know which side she's on o.0

**Nightlight753:** It's ALWAYS time for Holy Musical, B man jokes! Always! Alfred is so much fun to write. He's just an awesome character. And good! If you're confused as to which side Artemis is on, then I'm doing my job!

**N0601859: **You're too kind, really. Thank you so much

**Yuka Muntou:** Here! Have another chapter!

**Dark Goddess Of Shadows: **I'm sorry! Nightwing and Artemis are strictly friends in my universe! If you haven't, go back and read the two other stories leading up to this one!

**I love you Roza:** She and Dick are bros :D I loveth them. And GOOD! Confusion is good!

Thank you also to all the kind anons, for your awesome comments! I only wish I could thank you personally!

* * *

Artemis looked around, trying not to feel moderately impressed at the type of technology that now littered the inside of the Cave.

"Looks good in here. You got that new kid – Tim Drake, is it? – You get him to upgrade for you?"

"You know about Tim?"

"I told you to get a new identity," Artemis said, moving to the enormous computer monitor. "So you turned into Nightwing and Batman got a new protege. Two, actually. Barbara Gordon is Batgirl, am I right? Commissioner Gordon's daughter. I told you that I kept tabs."

"That's really creepy."

"No creepier than the fact that Miss M's 'little brother' can change his shape because of that blood transfusion she gave him when he was eight." Artemis cracked her knuckles, hoping that what she was about to try would work. There was really no counting on it, though. She splayed her fingers across the holographic keyboard and closed her eyes, grinning triumphantly when an electric jolt sliced through the system, bypassing all of the security protocols and allowing her access to the tracking info that she wanted.

"The hell? How did you do that?"

"Tigress. She can control electricity; I can't."

"I thought that you were just pretending to be her."

"No." Artemis said, still focused on her task. "She's in there, keeping that part of me dormant until I need it. But if we both agree that I need the power, she helps out."

"But – "

"Kid, don't even bother trying to work it out. It took _me_ five years and I'm the one living with her. She says 'hi,' by the way."

"There is so much not right about everything you just said." Dick muttered to himself. "And I'm not a kid anymore. I'm eighteen, Artemis."

"And I'm twenty-one. What's your point? " Artemis said with a smile. "Anyway, thanks. I got what I wanted."

"There's no way," Dick objected, "that you bypassed and tracked what you needed so fast. And are you seriously not going to tell me what it is?"

"No. You've got to trust me on this one. Don't give me that look. Expect a present in a few days." Artemis smiled at her own wit, quickly backing into the Zeta beam while Dick tried to figure out how she'd hacked the system. Tigress's method of hacking was self-destructive: she got what she wanted and then the whole system would melt down around the information, effectively destroying it. It was a nice system. Worked for the pair of them; when Tigress was willing to help, that is. And it wasn't very often.

"El Paso," Artemis murmured to the Zeta, vanishing in a flash of light before Dick had a chance to turn around. She stepped out of an abandoned-looking shack onto the street, quickly evaluating the neighborhood. It wasn't the worst place she'd been in her life – that might be Ukrainian prison, or quality time with Sportsmaster – but it was a far cry from the High Side of Gotham.

She slipped through the long shadows, silently making her way through the streets until she got to the address. It was a home. Nondescript, pretty average-looking for this side of town, but well-maintained, despite its size. Artemis could relate. No matter how much they struggled for money, her mother always insisted that the apartment look presentable. Meaning minimal to no explosions allowed indoors. Artemis smiled at the memories, then refocused. Whatever Kord had been working on, it had landed here.

Artemis's head snapped towards a sudden scream coming from the second floor. And now Kord's little project had been discovered. Awesome. Leaping into action, Artemis scaled the brick wall with ease, busting through the window without flinching, though now her hands were bleeding. She wiped the blood off on her black pants, surveying the room. It was empty. But the door was open. Artemis gave chase, following the panicked sounds into the hallway and down the stairs.

"Stop running!" Artemis ordered, blocking the door to the kitchen. A kid – maybe fifteen, sixteen – whirled, staring at her with wide, dark eyes. Something was attached to his back, something blue and gleaming. Artemis swore violently. Kord's tech. She knew that it was some kind of artificial intelligence, but there was nothing on file that said it needed a _host_.

"Who are you?" the kid asked, his voice shaking with fear. "What do you want?" He winced in pain, his words cut off, but Artemis knew that the next question was "what is this thing?"

"I'm sorry," Artemis said softly. The boy just looked at her, his dark eyes growing even wider. Artemis could see that the technology was trying to merge with him – it was attaching itself to his spinal cord. It was going to fuse its consciousness with his. Artemis wanted to punch a wall. Whoever invented real AI's she hoped burned in hell. Didn't they ever watch Terminator? Giving computers their own consciousnesses never ended well. Ever!

"What did you do to me?" he demanded.

"What's your name?" Artemis countered softly.

"Jaime," he replied, his voice still quivering. "Jaime Reyes. Is this...is it going to kill me?" Artemis didn't answer, just moved closer to the boy, ignoring him when he flinched away from her.

"Jaime, my name is Artemis," she said, her voice quiet, trying not to spook him. She crouched down next to him, her long blonde hair almost touching the ground. She'd considered cutting it again, but in the end, kept it long. She owed herself that, at least. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"What are you – " the boy's voice broke off suddenly as Artemis plunged a syringe into his neck. He went limp instantly, his eyes fluttering closed.

"Sorry, kid," Artemis said, slinging the boy over her shoulder. "You're going on a trip."

* * *

"Okay," Artemis said, sashaying into the Light HQ. "There's good news and bad news." Her old sensei turned, his eyebrows raised.

"And?"

"Good news: I killed Kord. Bad news: he gave whatever technology he was working on to the League before I got there. I tracked it and it's in the Hall."

"No matter," Ra's said after a pause. "The Justice League will never figure out its capabilities."

"Whatever, then," Artemis said, waving an airy hand and going off to the training room when Ra's called her back.

"Your tracking information shows that you were at Wayne Manor today."

"And...?" Artemis said when he trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

"And what were you doing there?"

"Visiting an old friend. If I'm going to live here from now on, people are going to see me. I wouldn't want to burn bridges. Besides," she said, smirking, "that billionaire brat's filthy rich and he has connections. I might be able to use that one day." Artemis knew that they'd ask. She'd rigged the tacking beacon to say that she'd been at the Manor all day, as opposed to the beacon blipping off the map when she went into the Cave. All non-League-sanctioned tracking signals were jammed on Mount Justice.

Eh, what the Light didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"That...was very clever, Tigress."

"I know," she replied haughtily. "I still don't know why you're bothering with a tracer. I tell you where I go anyway. Plus, I've never done anything but what you've asked."

"It is a precaution we must take, given your...past history." Artemis's face darkened at the mention.

"I thought we weren't discussing who I used to be anymore?"

"My apologies." Artemis sniffed irritably and turned to go. "And, Tigress, I wouldn't stay long. Queen Bee is coming for a meeting and was most unpleasantly surprised when we told her of your return."

"Yes, well, wouldn't want to anger the Queen Bitch," Artemis said lazily. "Because you know how much I care about _her _opinion of me." Ra's gave her a look and Artemis rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, I'm leaving. Tell Savage to call me if he needs me. And you know the rule."

"Indeed," Ra's said, nodding. The rule was that Artemis's apartment was off-limits. No Lighters allowed. She claimed it was for "meditation" and by some act of God, they'd bought it. Regardless, Artemis didn't trust them. She'd overhauled the place with security: no trackers worked, no satellites could find it. She'd modified the usual alarm system to warn her if someone even loitered outside her door for too long. Not to mention that the whole place was rigged with explosives powerful enough to rip through steel if anyone without the passcode tried to enter through any entrance. Paranoid? Absolutely. But she wanted her privacy.

Especially since she now had a guest.

Artemis ducked as a china plate sailed though the air and smashed against the wall.

And now said guest was awake.

"_¿Dónde estoy, puta_?" Jaime swore in Spanish, his arm raised to throw another dish. Artemis looked at him coolly, and then there was a dagger pinning his arm to the wall. Jaime blinked. He hadn't even seen her wind up, she'd moved to fast.

"Do you really think it's wise to call the girl who saved your life a bitch? Or throw her stuff? Hm?" Artemis said, leaning close to the boy. Jaime backed away as far as he could go.

"Where am I?" he repeated, this time in English.

"My place," Artemis said, casually moving away and picking up the broken plate pieces. "That thing on your back was killing you. I slowed it down." She threw the smashed china into the trash, picking up a holographic projector from the counter and showing it to him. "See? These are the scans from the Scarab."

"The what?"

"The giant blue thing on your back." Artemis said. "It's...it has a mind of its own and now, it's attached to you." She saw panic flash in the boy's eyes and held up a hand. "Hey, don't freak out on me, kid. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I'm going to help you."

"_You're_ the one who did this to me!"

"No, I'm not." Artemis said. "I'm the one who saved your life. The Scarab was binding itself to your spinal cord. It was killing you, but I managed to hack it. Attach it safely, without you...dying. And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, that you got stuck in the middle of this, but there's nothing you can do about it now." Artemis took the knife from his sleeve, twirling it absently. "But I'll tell you something. If this works like I think it might, you'll be a hero."

"Is that what you are?" Artemis looked at him, a grin splitting her face.

"No. Not even close. But I used to be. Think about it, kid. Think about all of the people you could save. Not to mention," she added, "that you'll have a family. Heroes, just like you. They'll protect you and you them. You'll be a _part_ of something." Jaime looked at her, indecision flickering in his eyes. Artemis knew what he wanted. He wanted proof. "Come on," she said, "let me show you something." She walked out of the kitchen area, down the hall, not bothering to see if he was following her. He was. Of course. Everyone wanted to be a hero.

"Look," Artemis said, pointing to the photographs that lined the walls. Her and Robin, Wally, Red, all of them. Some newspaper clippings, praising Green Arrow's crime-fighting niece. She picked up one frame, pointing to the photo within. "Before them, I didn't have much of a family. My dad skipped out, my mom was in a wheelchair and my sister...she died." She pointed to each hero in turn. "They were my family. I depended on them. And, guess what? They're still around. They still need young heroes. There had to be a reason that the Scarab picked you, Jaime. You were meant to be a hero." It didn't matter that the last bit was a lie. Artemis had no idea if the AI had chosen the boy on purpose, or if it had been completely random. But she'd said the right thing. She could see hope on Jaime's face. Determination. Good qualities. She could work with that. Finally, he nodded.

"I'll do it."

* * *

**OOOOOOOOH! Please tell me your thoughts! Also, guys, if you want to chat about the story (or anything else, for that matter) follow me on Tumblr: .com**

**~Fae**


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on, Jaime." Artemis said, encouragingly. For her at least. Which to anyone else was just barely-restrained exasperation. "I don't want to have to beat you down again."

"I can't help it!" Jaime insisted. He didn't want Artemis to wail on him, either. Or end up shooting him with a sedative that she'd developed that made the Scarab lethargic enough to stop attacking anything and everything that moved. "The stupid thing reacts really violently. And really _really _doesn't like you." Artemis couldn't blame it. She'd been attacking Jaime over and over for hours, not actually planning to hurt him, but trying to teach him to control the Scarab, which seemed to think that violence was the answer to everything.

"It's not supposed to like me," Artemis countered. "I'm the one teaching its host how to control it." Without warning, Artemis sprang at him, her knives bared and ready to slice him to ribbons.

"No!" Jaime shouted, standing his ground, and for the first time, Artemis didn't have to leap out of the way of a sonic cannon blast. She skidded to a stop in front of him, sheathing her knives with a smile.

"Nice, kid. _That_ is what I'm looking for," Artemis said, her voice sounding almost proud. She was a tough teacher – that was no question – but under her tutelage, Jaime was learning how to control the Scarab, and also how to function without it. She'd taught him some of the basics of many kinds of martial arts, and while he oftentimes – always, actually – got his ass kicked when they sparred, he was improving. He couldn't say that Artemis was _understanding_, but she was a good teacher. She always made time for him. He didn't have to stay at her apartment anymore like she'd insisted for the first few weeks where nearly everything he did was controlled by the Scarab, but he was there almost every day, regardless. And it wasn't like his mother even noticed. She wasn't the most observant of parents, especially since his dad had left them.

"He's swearing at you."

"_Follas tambien, _Scarab." Artemis said. Screw you too. "Does he want to hear it in another language? I know several." Jaime grinned at her, shaking his head.

"No, he's good."

"Fantastic. Because you know how much I care about his feelings." Artemis rolled her eyes, pointing at the kitchen. "Go nuts, you earned it. I think there's some cake in there somewhere as well." Jaime whooped with excitement and ran off. Artemis smiled after him. Despite herself, she'd come to like the kid. He was smart, that was for certain, and willing to learn. Willing to put up with her "keep up or die trying" methods, which probably would've killed someone else. Jaime was a fighter. Artemis respected that.

"Taking a protege, are we?" Artemis stiffened at the voice, but only slightly, not enough to be noticeable."You left the door unlocked," he said, answering her unspoken question. "Sloppy of you."

"Back for another kiss?" Artemis asked, her voice light, benign, before she spun faster than she ever had before, whipping out her daggers and pinning Red – the clone – to the wall.

"That wasn't my intention, but if you're offering..." Unbelievable. She had him pinned to a wall, all of her security protocols ready to blast him into oblivion, not even to mention Tigress screaming to destroy him inside her head, and he was making jokes.

"So you _are_ different," Artemis mused, her voice taking on an objective, almost scholarly tone. Tigress was fuming, pacing, inside her mind, but Artemis was the one in control. "See, Red, the _real_ Red, not some lab-grown test-tube rat, wouldn't be nearly as arrogant. He wouldn't be making jokes. He'd be making threats. You should know that, considering that you have all his memories. That's why he's still alive, isn't it? You need him to be alive so that you can live." The clone stilled, his face warped into a mask of hate that Artemis had never seen on the real Red, save once, back when he thought that Artemis was replacing him as GA's partner.

"Artemis...?" Jaime. He must've heard the commotion.

"Kid, you've got to leave."

"But – "

"Now." Jaime gave her a confused, scared look, but scurried off regardless.

"You're protecting him. From what, from _me_?"

"Like you're a threat. I could kick the crap out of the _original_ Roy Harper and I've become nothing if not stronger since then. What do you want, clone boy? I do believe that I told Savage that the last time you showed up, I'd send you back _in pieces_."

"You won't."

"Yeah?" Artemis said, her voice low, sticking her face dangerously close to his. "My Red, the real Red, is frozen somewhere out there without half of his arm. You're supposed to be his clone. Why don't I make you two match?"

"Artemis, stop," the clone said softly, his voice pleading. "I didn't come to make you angry. I just wanted to make sure that...that..."

"That I was okay," Artemis said mockingly, her tone biting and remorseless. "Because you're programmed to _love_ me. Well take your programming and shove it because I swear to God next time I'll kill you."

"Why not now? I've never known you to go back on a threat."

"Red never knew me to go back on a threat. You don't know me at all." Artemis said, pulling his head down and pressing her lips to his. She'd upgraded the toxin in her tongue ring, making it faster-acting. Within seconds, the clone was out cold.

"_¿Qué diablos?_" Jaime asked, having snuck back into the room. What the hell? "How did you do that? I thought you didn't have any powers!" Oh, so he'd seen her kiss the clone and have him pass out. Brilliant.

"I don't." Artemis stuck out her tongue. "I have a tongue ring and a bunch of illegally-obtained chemicals." Artemis knew that she had to get the clone to the League – without tipping the Light off. Awesome. Her eyes cut to Jaime, an idea forming. "Congratulations," she said drily. "You're getting promoted. This is your moment."

"You mean...?"

"You're going to take this son of a bitch to the Hall." Artemis said.

* * *

"You know what to do." Artemis said coolly as she rewired the Zeta beam that she'd stolen (oops!) to beam Jaime into the Hall. She'd made sure that he'd known the rules before she'd taken him on. No mentioning her name to the other Leaguers, keep to the alibi that she'd given him and made him memorize, and most importantly, give Nightwing a little present from her.

"How do you know he won't just turn around and kick my ass?" Jaime asked for the millionth time.

"Because that means something to him," Artemis said. "Suit up, kid." Jaime closed his eyes and the armored suit erupted from his back, encasing his entire body. Jaime – Blue Beetle, now – hauled the Red clone over his shoulder before stepping into the Zeta.

"Now what do you say when they ask you how you can fight?"

"The Scarab transferred its intelligence into me."

"And if they ask to draw up some specs?"

"I say no."

"And if they ask why?"

"Because the thing will react violently and it could kill me."

"Very good." Artemis grinned, clapping him on the back. "You can do this. Go get 'em." She slammed the button on the Zeta and Jaime – and the clone – was gone.

* * *

"Did you get my present?" Artemis asked, when she heard Dick come in. She was back at Wayne Manor, this time bypassing the usual channels (AKA Alfred), and just slipping in through the window. After she'd shut down the security, of course.

"You're in my bedroom." Dick deadpanned. "You're on my bed."

"I'm tired and you were at school." The fact that the boy genius was still studying was hilarious to her.

"You should be in college, technically."

"Graduated." Even with her eyes closed Artemis could feel the look he was giving her. "Turns out, free from the stress of trying to be a good little hero, I'm actually pretty smart. I never asked, but they say that my IQ is off the charts."

"The kid, Blue Beetle, that was you?"

"Who else would take the time to train him?"

"You know M'gann almost fried his brain."

"It was a risk."

"He brought _Roy_." At that, Artemis's eyes snapped open and she sat up.

"No," she objected, her voice glacier. "He brought a lab-grown experiment that attacked me and infiltrated the League. You're welcome."

"Artemis, whatever you did to him...he still hasn't recovered." Oh, she knew that. Artemis knew that he'd show up sometime or other. So she'd added a little something special to the shell of the stud in her tongue. "Artemis, do you even care?" She looked at him, her eyes cold and blank.

"Yes, Richard. Look how much I care," she said, her turn to deadpan. "He took Red from me. So I figured putting in him in a hallucinogenic coma for a few days – maybe weeks – was a good way to start paying him back for that. Jaime's a good kid. Don't screw him up or he might just end up like me." Artemis moved to exit through the window when Dick stopped her.

"I'll tell the League," he threatened. "You can't keep doing this to me, Artemis. You can't just show up out of nowhere with a cryptic message and then vanish again."

"I can do whatever I want," Artemis said coldly without turning. "Because you won't say anything. Because you still _care_ about me." Artemis turned her head. "So, no, you won't say a word, because you know that the League will either lock me up and keep me drugged for the rest of my life or kill me. You're smart enough to know the truth and you're a sentimental moron. Good combination for the boy who's supposed to be a hero." Artemis didn't say any more. She didn't have to.

* * *

**Aaaaaaaand what? Sorry for not giving review feedback, I'm exhausted and wanted to get this up before I leave. I love you all, please review and I will reply for the next chapter.**

**~Fae**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: **_Killerawesome_** (Guest): (Yes, Artemis does love Red. They've been in love since the first book :D), **_noaverageangel_**, **_Dark Goddess Of Shadows_ **(My Jaime is sixteen...and no, he's just Artemis's protege), **LuvStruckWriter** (Thanks so much!), **_Kelsey_** (This is a sequel to Return! It just did the time jump like the show did!), **_I love you Roza_** (That is completely okay, I want you to be confused right now :D), **_sexaylatingirl_** (I never go in knowing how long a story will be. It could end tomorrow for all I know. That was an exaggeration, but still), and thank you to all of the Guests who reviewed and to everyone who followed!

* * *

"Is someone feeling aggressive today?" Artemis didn't respond. She'd known that her dad had been watching her for almost the entirety of the training

session, but had made no comment.

The answer to his question was yes. Yes, Artemis was feeling aggressive. But it was more than that. She was _pissed._

How _dare _Dick try to lecture her in morality. He was her best friend – or had been. He knew that she didn't abide by the moral standards of everyone else. And why had he been trying to protect the damned clone in the first place? It was a lab experiment, not actually human at all. He'd taken Red from her...from all of them...and how he was frozen God-knew-where, without his arm...

Artemis snarled to herself, a knife slipping out of the arm-sheathes she'd taken to wearing and into her hand. She slashed viciously at the punching bag she'd been abusing, slicing it in two before letting her claws slide out of the gloves she always wore and shredding it into bits. She hadn't liked wearing them at first – they reminded her too much of her murderous bitch of an aunt – but now, well, they'd proven their usefulness.

"Do I need to answer that?" Artemis said coldly, her nails sliding back into their sheaths with a small scraping noise. "Or can you figure it out for yourself?"

"Whoa, kiddo, someone's feeling venomous this morning."

"You picked up on that, did you? How insightful."

"Hey, kid, no need to get snippy with me. I just wanted to see my girl in action. And Savage wants to see you."

"Oh, goodie." Artemis drawled, kicking the punching bag one last time before tossing her hair over her shoulder and exiting the training room. "What's up, Savage?" she called in the control room when she passed through the door.

"We have a problem. Or," the enormous man said, turning round to face her, "more specifically, _you _have caused us a problem?"

"Me?" Artemis asked, feigning innocence. "Oh, Christ, if this is about that clone, I told you that if he came near me again, I'd kill him. What do I have if I don't have my word?"

"You're a pathological liar."

Artemis smiled. "But I don't bluff. It's one of the qualities that makes me so valuable to you and yours."

"This isn't about that. It's about the fact that because of _your _failure, the babies of the League have a new member." Artemis's eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

"They figured it out?" Artemis said, snorting, one blonde eyebrow raised. "Impressive, for them. I tried having into the software remotely and couldn't crack it."

"Which poses a problem for us."

"Not really," Artemis countered, ignoring the look on Savage's face. "Look, even if they know how to use it, they don't really know. Whatever that artificial intelligence was, it needed a host, yes? Well now it found one. A kid. What kid is going to be able to stand up to that kind of power? It'll kill him in weeks, then die off itself. Hey look! Two birds, one pretty stone."

"Your optimism is admirable."

"Not optimism. Realism. Facts. Logic. Is that all you needed?" Artemis was already halfway through the door. She had someone she wanted to see.

"Good work, getting rid of the clone for us." Savage called after her. "We were going to kill it soon, anyway." Artemis smiled widely at him, masking the twinge she felt in her gut. _Stop it_, she chided herself. _The clone isn't Red. He deserves what he gets._ Hopefully, that was a long and painful interrogation by the League. Artemis knew that's what was in store for her should she ever get caught. So note to self:

Don't get caught.

* * *

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Artemis grinned at the sound of the familiar, deranged and, strangely, missed voice.

"Joker!" Artemis said, taking in the skinny beanpole of a psychotic killer. "It's been too long."

"I'll say," the pale man cackled. "Last I heard, you had skipped right over the pond. Hanging with them Brits."

Artemis touched a hand to her heart. "You've been keeping tabs on me. How thoughtful."

"Anything for my favorite girl. I _also_ hear that you're in with the new Anti-Justice League."

"Don't let Harley hear you calling me your favorite," Artemis said with a grin. "And I can neither confirm, nor deny that last bit."

"Ugh, Harley," the Joker rolled his eyes. "I don't want to talk about her." Artemis found herself having to fight off a laugh. The Joker, with relationship troubles? That had to be the new height in comedy. Not to mention irony. "What I want to talk about, is the new kid in town. Newer than you, T."

"I'm five years into this biz, Jokey, I'm done being new." Artemis said, smirking.

"This is serious. Some kid apparently got Kord's tech – the one your buddies wanted. There's a sanctioned hit out on him now. Killer takes the credit, a reward, and gets in good with your new pals." Artemis frowned as if this was news that bothered her, but only because she hadn't been previously informed. It didn't convey the deep-seated fear that welled in her stomach, tightening up like a malicious fist and squeezing her insides. Jaime. Jaime was in danger.

Of course he was. Wasn't that her pattern? Anyone and everyone that she came to care for became a target, even inadvertently.

"Huh." Artemis said, putting a finger to her bottom lip. "Well, thank you for telling me. I need some cash, maybe I could collect on that reward myself."

"Some brat with a magic backpack isn't any interest to me," the Joker said, shrugging. "But I'll back you up, always."

"I appreciate it." Artemis said. And she was being honest. It seemed like the only person she could count on to be honest with her was a psychopath. She'd take it, if that meant being told the truth. The Joker made a show of checking his bare wrist as if it wore a watch.

"Well, I've got to go, T. I do miss our little talks, though. We must make it a habit of seeing each-other."

"Agreed." Artemis said. "You want some cover?" she asked, picking up a packet of powder out of her belt and smashing it down onto the concrete.

"Later, T!" the Joker cackled as he made his grand escape. Artemis loitered around the city for a while, making sure that there was no one tailing her, before casually making her way home.

Home, and to the Zeta beam.

"Mount Justice!" Artemis dictated clearly. No one would be there at this hour – she knew the Team's schedules and habits. No one would be there except Jaime. He liked to go up to the cave right after school and get his schoolwork done. It was quieter than home.

"Jaime!" Artemis whisper-shouted, hunting through the halls. "Jaime, where are you, dammit?"

"Artemis?" Artemis almost wanted to hug him when she saw the familiar face looking back at her from the doorway into the library. "What are you _doing_ here?"

"I needed to make sure that you were safe. The Light...they've got a hit out for you. Because of the thing on your back."

"What?" Jaime paled, looking past Artemis, his dark eyes focusing.

"I had a hunch that you were the one who'd trained him." Artemis's blood went cold at the gravelly sound of Batman's voice. "He's a good liar, Artemis. But not a born one."

"Hey, there's only so much you can teach a kid in a few weeks." Artemis said coolly without missing a beat.

"I didn't say anything, I swear!" Jaime said desperately, his eyes darting between the Batman and Artemis. "Artemis, believe me, _por favor!_"

"I know you didn't, Jaime." Artemis said, never taking her eyes off of the Bat. "I'd get out of here, kid, if I were you."

"You care about him." It wasn't a question. Artemis heard Jaime's footsteps fading as he left.

"You couldn't figure that one out on your own, detective?" she replied coolly. "Did you miss me at all? Because when I was raising hell overseas, I was thinking of you. How did you know that I was here, though?" Artemis had been careful. She'd covered her tracks. The only person who knew that she was back Stateside was Jaime and...

"I told him." Grayson. Artemis whirled around, but it was too late. Something stabbed into her neck and the whole room began to go dark.

"Dammit. Why did you..." Artemis trailed off, suddenly unable to speak. A paralytic. A neurotoxin.

"Now we're even." Grayson said. Artemis blinked once and then there was nothing.

* * *

**_Oh no!_**

**_~Fae_**

**_PS: Also, go and read this amazing fic: s/8251664/1/Who_Am_I It was written based partially off of my backstory and is completely amazing!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry that I have been so AWOL lately. I am a horrible person. And I have no internet reception where I am (uploading this took almost two hours!), so I will thank people in the next chapter! If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, please tell me.

* * *

Artemis's eyes snapped open and in an instant, her mind was in a whirl, trying to think a way out. It was a reflex, really. She was in a dark room, strapped to a cold metal table. Not the most comfortable place she'd ever been in. She grinned as Batman strode in with a swoop of his cape, waving with the little motion she had with her hand.

"Batty, come on," she said coolly. "I know that you love me, but this is a little extreme, don't you think?" The Batman didn't respond, only glared at her as he thrust his fist into her stomach. All of Artemis's air exited her lungs in a single, violent burst.

"That was for Richard," Batman growled in her ear. Artemis laughed breathily, struggling to regain her air.

"Ah," she wheezed. "Grayson. Remind me to give him a stern talking-to when I get out of here," Artemis said. With her fists.

"You're never getting out of here." Batman said with scary assuredness. "We're not the only ones who wanted you in custody. The CIA, FBI and KGB were also very interested in what you've been up to in the past five years. I'd do what they want, if I were you. These guys don't mess around." And with that, the Dark Knight left, letting several men cloaked in all-black enter the room. Artemis's heart-rate quickened with fear, but her eyes remained clear and she smiled cockily.

"Well, boys," she said, her voice ringing with confidence. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

And then the torture began.

* * *

Artemis never closed her eyes. And she never gave in.

"You are brave, and strong," the man in black from the KGB said, his English rough and garbled. "But you must know that your efforts are in vain. You will tell us what we want to know, eventually." Artemis's head turned towards him, slowly, so slowly, the blood that had pooled there smearing everywhere, leaving her face, usually so striking, a garish mask. She said nothing, but her gray eyes blazed, lit from within with hatred and fury. As the KGB agent watched, they dulled, as Artemis withdrew, hiding from the pain within the safety of her own mind.

"You must attack!" Tigress shouted as soon as Artemis could hear her. "You cannot stand for this!"

"I can't get out," Artemis said, her mental voice weary. "I've thought through every scenario. And you saw what they did when I tried to let you out." Artemis winced, remembering. Batman had made sure that Tigress couldn't escape and break Artemis free by instructing her torturers to douse her with icy water when they smelled ozone. Apparently, he'd done some research on Tigress's ability, and she couldn't defend Artemis against self-generated electricity. Artemis had almost forgotten how painful electrocution had been. Almost.

"Help is coming." Artemis whirled, her eyes wide at hearing the voice that she hadn't heard in almost six years.

"Athena?" Damn. If her twin was here, that meant that Artemis was dying. Was Batman that determined to make her suffer that he'd let her die on the table?

Yes. Artemis didn't even need to think about that for a second. The Dark Knight hated her. Always had.

"Just hang on for a little longer, Artemis, okay? You're strong enough to beat this. Help is coming."

"Grayson betrayed me." Artemis said, the weighty, miserable words slipping out unbidden. "I trusted him. I tried to help him…"

"He didn't have a choice. Batman cornered him, threatened to cut him off, completely shut him out if he didn't tell the truth. Richard had to undergo a polygraph! He tried lying three times before Batman finally forced the truth out of him." Artemis pressed her lips together, unbelieving. She turned away, and when she turned back, Athena had gone. From above, almost as though she was hearing it through a long tunnel, Artemis could hear the sounds of a violent struggle. Gentle hands touched her body, and the sudden change snapped her out of her head and back into the dark room.

"Artemis," a relieved voice breathed when her eyes refocused and she blinked. A familiar face floated over her. A missed face. Artemis reached forward instinctively before she regained her senses and recoiled, snarling. The bodies of the FBI, CIA and KGB agents littered the floor, all unconscious and bloody.

"Get…get away from…me," Artemis snarled, breathing heavily, barely able to form the words from her broken mouth.

"Artemis, please, just shut up." Red's clone said, scooping Artemis up into his arms. He ran with her, quickly making his way out of the compound that Artemis had been trapped in.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing with her?!" Artemis lifted her head weakly at the familiar, quietly angry voice.

"Get out of my way, kid," the clone said shortly, the threat clear in his voice.

"No!" Artemis said loudly, shocking the both of the boys. "Jaime. It's okay. You need to…to…" Artemis trailed off, too weak to finish. Her head drooped backwards, all her energy spent.

"Kid. Jaime, whatever your name is. I've got her. She's safe."

"Artemis..?" Jaime asked, wavering, his dark eyes wide with fear for his mentor. Artemis managed to look up at him and nod, hopefully in a way that was encouraging. "I'm so sorry, Artemis. It's all my fault." Artemis couldn't stop Red's clone as he began to take her away, but she was able to take Jaime's hand, however weak her grip was, mouthing to him before she vanished around the corner. _It's okay._

* * *

"Artemis, wake up. You have to wake up!" Artemis's eyes fluttered open, blinking quickly when she saw the clone's face very, very close to her own. Too close.

"Stop…yelling…at me," Artemis ground out, her mouth feeling as though it was filled with cement. "I can…hear you…fine. _Idiota_."

The clone cracked a smile, looking relieved. "Since when do you speak Spanish?" he blurted.

"Since…five years…ago. Ow." Artemis hurt. Everywhere. She felt like one massive, throbbing bruise. It wasn't the best she'd felt in a while. Not even close.

"You're pretty banged up," the clone said, methodically changing a bandage on her arm and shoulder. Artemis winced as he dabbed antiseptic on the bloody wounds there, but bit her tongue to keep any noise from escaping. "That's so like you. Tough to the end," the clone Red said, almost sounding affectionate.

"You don't…know…anything about me." Artemis ground out.

"I know everything that he knew." Clone-Red said his eyes downcast. "Artemis…can we just start over? Pretend that none of this ever happened? A fresh start, you and me."

"You're…not…Red," Artemis spat, actually spitting blood out of her mouth. She was back in her apartment, she noticed absently. No doubt that when she passed out, the clone had used her fingerprint to get inside. "You took…him from me…_clone_."

"I'm not just a clone. And I'm not just a copy of your boyfriend. I'm my own person."

"You…don't even…have a name." Artemis snarled, trying to hurt him. She didn't care that he'd saved her life, she didn't even care why. She just wanted him to feel as much pain as she felt. And she didn't even care about the physical pain. Artemis had already doled out enough physical punishment. She wanted _him_ to have to live with the constant ache that she carried around in her heart like it was a part of her.

"Yes, I do. My name is Reid."

"Well, Reid," Artemis coughed, more blood spattering onto the couch where she lay. "Why….did you save me?"

"You helped the kid. You gave him a future." The clone – Reid – answered without looking at her. "You didn't deserve what they did to you."

"Yes," Artemis mumbled, her eyelids drooping again. "Yes… I did."

* * *

Recovery was long. Artemis's body was usually quick to heal, but there was only so much damage it could take before it began to turn against her. She was only twenty-one, and her body had experienced more punishment than most would in a lifetime. The torture had opened up old wounds, wounds that had barely healed, and just added to her already painfully-long recovery time.

Reid was a dutiful nurse. Not who she would've picked if she had a choice, but she didn't. He wouldn't leave, and she couldn't. Not if she wanted to stay free. Plus, for the first few weeks, Artemis couldn't even walk on her own, she had been that broken. But no one knew where she was, if they knew that she'd gotten away at all. There had been covert searches, of course, but no one knew where Artemis had relocated when she'd come home to Gotham. No one but Jaime and Reid.

Though she was loath to do so, Artemis did begin to see the differences between him and Red. When Artemis would lash out, angry that she was taking so long to heal, Reid was patient with her, whereas Red would've snapped back and fought with her. Sometimes, Artemis wanted a fight. But sometimes, it was nice to know that Reid would just take it. He'd taken the guest room and stayed there when Artemis couldn't do anything on her own, but had moved out without being asked once it was clear that she was fixed up enough to take care of herself. But that didn't stop him from stopping by every single day to help her change the gauze on the wounds that really seemed unhappy with healing. Her fingernails, especially, seemed to not want to grow back. _That_ was a pain in the ass that Artemis had never expected to face.

"How did you get Batman out of the way?" Artemis asked after thinking carefully about her words. It was a game that they played. He would answer one of her questions for every bandage that she'd let him change without swearing at him – in any language. If she did, he would change it anyway, but then leave, leaving her alone in her apartment with her hundreds of questions. Still, more often than not, Artemis was alone with her thoughts and without answers.

"That was your friend, Nightwing." Reid said. Artemis was sprawled out of her couch, trying to stay still as Reid poked and prodded at her injured shoulder. She was sore as hell after forcing herself through a brutal workout the night before, but it meant that she was getting stronger, so Artemis wasn't complaining. She was hurt, but that didn't mean that she was going to let herself get soft, nor lose everything that she'd gained in her five years abroad. "He managed to pay off an old rival of Batman's – Catwoman – to distract him, and then let me in. He's been asking to see you." Artemis sat up quickly, her eyes flashing.

"He's been what?" she demanded.

"He's been trying to see you. I haven't let him." Reid said, not backing down. "He hurt you. You weren't ready to see him." Artemis jerked to her feet, spinning away from Reid's touch, trying to pull her back down.

"You," she snarled, speaking quickly, furiously, "are not allowed to make that kind of decision for me." Artemis cursed the fact that she'd even let the clone into her life in the first place. She should've figured out a way to survive her injuries on her own. She was stronger than that, and now, she had to deal with the consequences of her foolishness.

"You were hurt, Artemis," Reid said, his eyes pleading. "He was the one who handed you over. You almost died! Do you know how many times I had to make sure that you were asleep, not dead?"

"That has nothing – "

"Thirty-seven. You almost died on me thirty-seven times." Artemis stopped for a moment. She'd known that it had been bad, but she hadn't known that it had been that bad.

"What else have you been keeping from me?" Artemis demanded, backing away when Reid moved towards her, his arms outstretched, and ignoring his obvious worry and concern. "Who else had tried to contact me that you've turned away without my say-so?"

"The kid," Reid offered up without hesitation, his eyes clear as glass. Yet another difference between the clone and the original. Red's eyes always seemed dark, layered with secrets and pain. Reid didn't bother with secrecy. His eyes were bright and open. Trusting. "That kid who caught us leaving. Jaime? He's been trying to get in. Almost got himself killed trying to break into the apartment."

"I want to see him," Artemis said immediately. She didn't offer up anything by way of explanation. But Jaime was her responsibility. He was probably going through hell back at the Cave. Batman had probably interrogated him. Artemis cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner.

"You couldn't have known." Reid said. Artemis's head snapped up as his voice answered her thoughts. He was doing that more and more often lately. It was disconcerting. "It's not your fault, how they treat him. You couldn't have known."

"Still." Artemis bit the word as it exited her mouth. If she knew Jaime, he thought that he was the reason that Artemis had gotten caught in the first place. He'd be killing himself over that. And Artemis had been completely off the grid for almost a month now.

"That's fine," Reid said calmly. "I'll bring him by this afternoon, okay?"

"No." Artemis said shortly. "I'm going to see him myself." She was done being cooped up here in her apartment. She was tired of being treated like and invalid, being taken care of. It was time for her to get off of her ass. She nodded, the plan solidifying and started to make her way towards the door.

"I'm coming with you," Reid said, moving to follow her.

Artemis groaned, rolling her eyes, but didn't argue. She knew by now that when it came to her safety, he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Stay out of my way," she just snapped instead.

* * *

"Jaime?" Artemis called softly, entering his house through the front door. "_Chico, donde estas?_"

"Artemis?" Jaime appeared from the living room, a Biology textbook in his hand. Artemis felt a swell of pride that he was still keeping up with his schoolwork. During their training sessions, Jaime had confessed that Bio was his hardest subject.

"Hey," she said, giving him a small smile. Jaime just stood there for a moment, before rushing forward and throwing his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"I thought that you'd died. I thought that they'd killed you." Jaime sobbed quietly. "And it was all my fault…Batman recognized my fighting style as yours…"

"Hey, hey," Artemis said, tipping his face up so that he was looking at her. "It is in no way your fault, okay? I was stupid and reckless. It was all me, not you. Okay?"

"No…"

"Yes." Artemis said firmly. "What happened had absolutely nothing to do with you. But are _you_ okay? They're treating you alright at the Cave?"

"Batman's the only one who knows what happened," Jaime said, looking down at his feet again. "The others…they're great, really." He shuffled nervously, as if guilty that he was making friends with the sidekicks of her torturers. But Artemis was nothing but relieved to hear that Batman hadn't mentioned who his mentor was. She didn't need Jaime becoming a superpowered pariah.

"Artemis…" Reid said, emerging from the shadows where he'd been hiding. Jaime jumped, his armor snapping into place in an instant. He pushed Artemis behind him, ready to defend her with his life. "Whoa there, kid." Reid said, holding up his hands. "That was impressive." Artemis shook her head at the admiration in his voice. Just because he liked her protégé, that didn't mean that she'd like him any more.

"Bite me," Jaime growled.

"Jaime, it's fine," Artemis said gently. "He's on my side." Funny; how it wasn't a matter of good or bad anymore. Artemis had friends and enemies on both ends of the spectrum. "And I have to go. If I get caught, I'm even more screwed than before. But I'll be in touch, okay?"

_"Si," _Jaime said, sounding miserable. Artemis wanted to stay, but she knew that his house would be watched, and if Jaime had any more contact with her, the League would cast him out without a second thought. She was that dangerous to them. At least, that's what they thought. Artemis gave him one last hug before she and Reid vanished out the door and into the night.

It didn't take Artemis long to shake Reid. He might've made a good nurse, but as a tail, he could use some work. Maybe he had Red's memory, but the skills he had to come to terms with on his own. Artemis smiled. The thought made her feel a little better.

As soon as she was sure that he was gone, Artemis made a beeline for Wayne Manor. She wasn't stupid and she wasn't suicidal, but she did have to see Grayson. He was the reason that she almost died…what was it: Thirty-seven times? Artemis had to talk to him, if only to get his side of the story before she burned his house to the ground. Because that was pretty high up there on the list of things she wanted to do to get even. After, of course, she punched him in the face. Grayson needed a nice facial scar, and Artemis was only too happy to oblige.

"Wake up." Artemis said sharply, disabling the alarm on Grayson's window and slipping inside. Grayson woke violently, sucking in a breath and jerking to his feet, sleepily readying himself for a fight. That was just sad. "Sit down," Artemis said, her voice cold and unyielding as steel as she shoved him back onto his bed.

"Artemis?" Grayson said shakily, suddenly going pale. It suddenly dawned on Artemis that Batman wouldn't have told his sidekick – partner, now – that she'd gotten away. He probably thought that she was in prison, or dead. Artemis scowled her eyes thundercloud dark and stormy. "You're…"

"Shut up, _Dick_," Artemis said curtly, cutting him off with a deadly look. "For once, you're the one who owes me an explanation and you've got one chance to tell me the truth, so start talking." Artemis was being cruel, but she didn't care. She was angry, she was injured and hell hath no fury like Artemis scorned. And _damn_, had she been scorned.

But she also wanted to corroborate Athena's story. Artemis had to be sure that Grayson hadn't sought to turn her in, and that the story wasn't just something she'd made up in her pain-addled state.

"I tried," Grayson said miserably, hanging his head. "I tried to keep him off of your trail, but he knows me too well. I got caught in a lie. Three, actually. Then he made me do a polygraph. I tried to lie again, but I've never been good at fooling those. I – I'm so sorry." Artemis looked down at her friend, who'd changed so much since she left. Her face didn't change, but her eyes seemed to lighten, the charcoal gray giving way to a brighter color. His story checked out.

"Watch out for Jaime for me," Artemis said. "Don't let Batman ice him out because of me. He's going to be a great hero."

"Artemis, wait!" Grayson said his voice almost louder than a whisper. Artemis stopped but didn't turn. She wasn't anywhere near ready to forgive him yet, because no matter how much he hadn't wanted to, he still had sold her out. "Please, don't leave." Artemis barely withheld a snort. If he thought that she was going to stay here, he was out of his mind. But Grayson wasn't finished. "Don't drop off the radar. Stay. Jaime needs you. I need you." Artemis looked away, not answering, not doing anything but pulling the window open again and leaping out.

* * *

"That was stupid," Reid said, already in her apartment when Artemis returned home. Artemis rolled her eyes, flicking him off before throwing herself onto the couch. Leaping over rooftops while still recovering hadn't been her brightest idea ever. "You realize that Batman _lives_ there don't you? You could've been caught. Again! Don't ignore me, Artemis," Reid said when Artemis didn't reply.

"Don't bother me, clone-boy, or I'll kiss you again." Artemis arched her back so that she could see him upside-down. Whenever Reid got annoying and he wouldn't leave, despite Artemis's most violent threats, she'd kiss him. It didn't happen often, but then at least, he'd stop being irritating and motherly for a good three hours. (Artemis had lowered the potency of the chemical on the outside on the stud in her tongue.) Artemis couldn't help but snicker to herself. He hated it when she did that.

"Minx," Reid said, rolling his eyes and turning to go scrounge up some food for her.

"Nag," Artemis returned easily. "And you can go home now. Clearly, I can take care of myself if I've been gallivanting over rooftops all night long."

"I like taking care of you," Reid said quietly and Artemis pressed her lips together, hating once again how close he'd gotten. But he wasn't Red. He wasn't hers, and she wasn't his. Artemis wouldn't let that happen. She wouldn't degrade Roy Harper's memory that way.

* * *

**_Hope that you enjoyed this nice, long chapter! Sorry again!_**

**_~Fae_**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Hello! Fast update, yes? Because I love you people! Special thanks to **_LuvStruckWriter_** (Why thank you darling! And please, I am no genius!), **_Dark Goddess Of Shadow_**,**_ Apocalypse owner, Queen of Vampires_** (THAT is the reaction that I'm looking for. You made my day!), **_noaverageange_** (I know, right?!), **_memyshadow_** (Actually, that's not true at all. I love Batman. LOVE him. But, in my story, he's a bad-ish guy, because Artemis is the protagonist and she's got a skewey moral compass, so everyone else is a bit skewed.), **_N0601859_** (I love their relationship too :D),**_ artemisred arrow 4ever_** (Well, remember, Reid isn't Red, he's the clone.)

* * *

"Artemis I have to ask you something." Reid said one day, almost a week after she'd made her unsanctioned visits to Jaime and Grayson.

Artemis turned her head towards him, upside-down and glaring. This couldn't be good. Reid knew better than to bother her when she was working out. And yet, here he was. Artemis flipped off of the double rings that she'd been holding herself up on, landing neatly in front of him. She had come a long way, if she did say so herself.

"That doesn't sound good," Artemis said, raising an eyebrow. "Is the Light questioning after me again?" Reid refused to let her go see her villainous coworker until she was fully healed, and he usually went as a mediator, telling them that she was out of commission for a while. Needless to say, they were less than thrilled about one of their most valuable assets dropping off of the face of the planet. No matter how much they threatened, Reid wouldn't tell them where Artemis had hidden herself for the past month and a half. She knew that she'd have to rejoin the world eventually, but not quite yet.

"No, but they're involved." Reid said his eyes downcast. Which was odd. He was taller than Artemis, and usually he didn't have a problem with meeting her eyes. Reid took a deep breath, as if to steady himself. "I want to find Roy. I want to get him out of cryostasis."

Artemis froze, unable to think for a moment. She'd made every effort not to think about or mention Red with Reid around, and had been pretty successful at not mentioning it, at least. But now she was stuck. "Why?" she demanded harshly.

"He's the reason that I'm alive. We're practically family. He doesn't deserve to freeze to death."

"You're not family." Artemis said sharply.

"Artemis, I can understand if you don't want to help me. But I'm going to find him, with or without your input." Artemis was silent for a moment, before striding out of her gym, making her way to the room that she'd built herself. It was the reason that she'd chosen this apartment in the first building: it was old, dating back to Gotham's origins, and had a hidden room down in the basement. Artemis had tricked out. She'd modeled it after the Batcave, actually. It was a chamber, completely decked out with all kinds of illegally-obtained technology that she could use for everything from finding people who didn't want to be found, to hacking into the Pentagon. Both at the same time, on occasion.

Artemis scooped up a thick file, hugging it to her chest, debating for a moment, whether or not to share what she'd found. She'd done well with not mentioning Red, but she had done nothing but think about how to get him back since she could stay conscious for more than an hour at a time. She'd been trying to find where Red was for weeks. And there might be one person who knew where he was, pardoning the leaders of the Light.

Same person who'd made the diversion that had let Artemis escape. Catwoman.

Artemis had done some digging, and _finally_ her tech had dredged up an address. Selina Kyle: critically-acclaimed art thief and cat burglar. Hence the name.

"Read up," Artemis said, pressing the file into Reid's hands. "You think you're the only one who wants to find him?"

"When did you even have time to _do_ this?" Reid asked, his mouth dropping open when he flipped through the file, seeing what Artemis had compiled. "_Where_ did you do this?"

"You ask too many questions." Artemis said, pulling her hair up into a knot on the top of her head. "I'm going out. You'd better know every fact in that brief backwards by the time I get back."

"Artemis…"

"Nag me," Artemis said sharply, but her eyes were teasing. "Nag me once, and you don't get to help me find him. And, Reid? You'd never find him on your own."

* * *

Artemis didn't need any practice to slip through the shadows, unseen. She was dressed like a civvie, in a tight black top, dark jeans and a leather jacket, her hair tied up and stabbed through with a tiny sliver of a knife, the only weapon on her person. She wanted to talk, for once, not fight.

"Who the hell are you?" Artemis turned, a small smile curving her lips upwards in the corners. She had let herself into Selina Kyle's apartment almost twenty minutes ago and had been poking around, the lock having been no problem for her.

"Artemis," Artemis replied, casually flipping through a book she'd found on the bookshelf: _The Art of War_. Pretty heavy reading for a jewel thief. "I don't think we've met, though you've done me an enormous favor." She'd risked capture to distract Batman so that she could get away, after all. Artemis. wondered idly what Grayson had on the thief that would force her cooperation.

"Your the girl that Nightwing was so anxious so set free. His friend, he said."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Well, I dunno about friend, but he owes me, big time. But that's beside the point." Artemis smiled winningly. "You have information that I want. Need, actually."

"I'm a thief," Selina said, with an eye-roll of her own. "I steal information to stay alive. What makes you think that I'll just give you whatever you want?"

"Because I can do one of two things. But let's start with the offer before we get to the threats, sound good to you? Great. I have some very, very powerful friends, and on my reccomendation, you'd be set for life. You'd never get caught, you'd never get charged, you'd always have someone looking out for you"

"It seems to me that you also have very powerful enemies."

"That just means I'm good." Artemis said with a grin.

"You got caught."

"I also got out, and here I am six weeks later, no worse for wear. I'll say it again: I'm good."

Selina looked at her differently now, as if she might – _might _be considering the offer. "Fine, so you're talented and you have powerful friends. What is it that you want?"

"I want to know where the Light is keeping Roy Harper." Artemis said, her tone casual and easy, as if she was discussing the weather, or reccomending a movie.

"And why on Earth would I tell you that?" Selina scoffed. Artemis rolled her eyes, the fished around in her pocket for her phone – a new one; iPhone 6. Not exactly legal, but she'd tricked it out: Now it was untrackable.

_I know where you are. _The message read. _Cops coming. Looking for Selina. Get out. - Reid_

"You are going to tell me what I want to know, because I'm about to save your life." Artemis grabbed the thief's hand just as a smoke grenade shattered the window, spewing noxious gas into the air. "Now, run!" Selina bolted without a thought, but Artemis lagged behind for a moment. Usually, the kind of gases in those grenades were...flammible. With a grin, Artemis snatched up her lighter, lighting it up and tossing it towards the canister.

Boom.

The whole place burned like dry kindling. Artemis vaguely wondered if Selina would be angry that she'd burned her place to the ground. But, then again, the police knew where she was – she wouldn't have been able to go back there, even if she'd had the chance. Artemis whooped as she leaped out of the window, scrambling over the rooftops and following the quick black outline of the thief. Turns out this little excurion would be profitable _and _fun!

* * *

"You're good," Artemis complimented, leaning casually against a brick wall of the alley that Selina was slinking through. Artemis had to admire her evasive tactics – she used many of them, herself.

"You burned down my place."

"You couldn't go back there anyway." Artemis countered. "And not only that, but I saved your life. You had no idea that they were coming."

"How do I know that you didn't call them?" Selina demanded. "That you didn't set me up?"

Artemis grinned. "Do I really look like the kind of girl who would call the police for anything? Ever?" To her surprise, Selina laughed.

"No, you don't," Selina said, smiling. "I like you. You're tough. But now, I have nowhere to live."

"You tell me where Roy Harper is, and you can crash at my place until you liquidate some of those assets that I know you've got buried away in some offshore bank account somewhere."

Selina eyed her for a moment, thinking it through. "I can to better than tell you. I can show you."

* * *

**_Short, but any longer and it wouldn't work. Please review!_**

**_~Fae_**


	8. Chapter 8

"I thought that you were in a rush." Selina said, shifting anxiously when Artemis said that they had to make a stop. _He's waited five years for me, _Artemis thought. _He can wait another ten minutes. _But she just flashed a confident smile. Selina had explained on the way that Red was being kept in the basement of a printing company.

"What's your hurry?" she said easily. "We're just waiting for a friend of mine. And as much as I love barreling into dangerous situations without a plan, this isn't the time to be doing that. I'm not into suicide, thanks."

"Really?" Reid asked, appearing from around the corner. "And here I was thinking that you were into suicide missions."

"Only occassionally. When I'm bored with tormenting you." Artemis said.

"So, never?"

"What the hell is this?" Selina hissed, suddenly going rigid. "You – you look just like... the kid in the ice!"

"I'm his brother." Reid said quickly. Artemis glared at him.

"He's Roy's clone," she corrected, her eyes shooting daggers. "But he's on my side." She turned to Reid. "She knows where Roy is. But they know what I look like and what you look like, obviously. We're going to have to remedy that."

"You two are working together?" Selina said, rasing a dark eyebrow. "_He _wants to find the original?"

"Yes." Artemis and Reid answered at the same time. "Did you bring the stuff I asked for?" Artemis asked, looking at the bag in Reid's hand. He handed it over without comment.

"So what's the plan?" Artemis grinned, revealing the assortment of hair dye and makeup inside the bag.

"We go corporate."

* * *

"So he's in the basement of some company building?" Reid asked, back at the apartment. They'd had one hell of a fight when Artemis has said that she was allowing a known jewel theif to room with her until she "got back on her feet." Artemis had won, naturally, but that didn't mean that Reid was happy about it.

She didn't really care. And now Selina was picking one of the spare bedrooms to call her own for a while.

"Your files say that he was being kept in Tibet." Reid said, contradicting her.

"They moved him," she said, pulling her freshly-dyed hair back off of her face. "About a month ago, give or take."

"So, when you came home." Reid said wryly, rolling his eyes. "Coincidence?"

"If I believed in coincidence. Which I don't." Artemis said, pawing through her "disguise closet." Oddly enough, it was almost twice as large as her normal closet. "Do you think this works better?" Artemis said, holding one blouse up against her, then another. "Or this one?" Neither mentioned that Artemis was just in a bra and the pencil skirt she'd be wearing. She always trained in just a sports half-tank and besides, it was _her_ apartment. Reid has stopped mentioning it after a while. He had learned that it was just easier to let Artemis do what she wanted.

"This one," Reid said, pointing to the silky blue top. "It makes your eyes look almost blue." Artemis looked up at him, ignoring her reflection in the mirror now, noting the sudden change in his voice. "How do I look?" she asked, slipping on the blouse and putting on a pair of nondescript, black-rimmed glasses to complete her new ensemble. No one would recognize her looking like this. Gone was the tall, stormy-eyed, half-Vietnamese blonde. In her place stood a girl who could've been an overworked intern in any corporation in the world. Though she was tall, she held herself like someone much smaller, as if she'd like to curl in on herself and vanish entirely. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a bun, but it looked haphazard, as if she had been in a rush just to pull it off of her face, with some flyaway stray hairs hanging in her face. The glasses obscured her eyes; eyes that did look bluer when she wore the blue blouse, and were lightly made up with minimal makeup that made her eyes look rounder and look older without drawing attention to her face.

Europe had open many doors for her in the realm of cosmetics.

"Beautiful," Reid said. "You look beautiful."

"Not exactly the effect I was going for," Artemis said, still looking at her reflection before stiffening, feeling Reid moving closer to her.

"Artemis..." he said, swallowing hard. "I – "

"Hate to interrupt," Selina said, suddenly poking her head into Artemis's closet, smirking, "but there's someone at the door. A kid." Artemis spun, grateful for Selina's uncanny timing and walked quickly out on her heels.

"Jaime?" Artemis said, a little more than a bit surprised to see the boy in her place. That was all kinds of stupid. And she didn't have any problem telling him that. "What the hell are you doing here, _idioto_?"

"Artemis?" Jaime asked, his mouth dropping open. "Is that really you?" Artemis nodded, smiling. She'd forgotten for a moment about her disguise.

"Yes, it's me." Artemis said, wrapping a strand of brown hair around her finger, tugging at it.

"You look hot...in a overworked kind of way," Jaime blurted, then blushed furiously.

"One; I keep getting that. Maybe I should change the outfit. Two; kid, I'm five years older than you. That's creepy. And three; what are you doing here? It's too dangerous for you to be around me, I told you that." Artemis ticked each number off of a finger.

"I had to make sure that you were okay."

"I'm fine. I'm always fine." Artemis said. "You don't worry about me. Worry about you. How's the bug?"

"It doesn't like being called that." Jaime said, his head cocked, as if listening to some unheard conversation. Which, to be fair, he was.

"I don't care. I don't like all those names it calls me." Artemis said, grinning. "But, kid, you need to go home before someone notices where you came here. If I'm found, I'm screwed."

"So maybe you should stop letting people know where you live," Selina said, slinking into the room. Artemis turned around, glaring at her.

"You owe me, Jaime owes me and Reid won't leave."

"That's...that's Catwoman!" Jaime exclaimed, going pale. Artemis shot Selina a look. _Do you see what you did_? The thief only laughed and sauntered away.

"Yes," Artemis said coolly, "and she's doing me an enormous favor, so no judging." She tweaked Jaime's nose. "Now you get your blue metal butt out of here. I mean it."

"What are you up to?" Jaime asked. Artemis bit her lip to keep from smiling. There was a reason she liked him: he was perceptive. "You're going to do something dangerous, aren't you?"

"When am I not?" Artemis said, then sobered. "I'm fine. I've got backup this time."

"Yeah," Reid said, entering. "Me." He didn't look like himself either. With newly-dyed black hair and dark brown colored contacts, he looked more Vietnamese than Artemis did at this point.

"You remember Reid," Artemis said drily. "He looked different when you saw him."

"_¡En serio!_" No kidding. "That's crazy."

"Yes it is. But, seriously, Jaime, you need to go. You can't be around me. Not right now. If this goes badly..." Artemis shook her head. "Batman can't think that you've seen me." Artemis bent over, whispering in her ear. "I will visit within two weeks, okay? Hold me to it." Jaime nodded, looking solemn.

"So who's the kid?" Selina asked when Jaime had left.

"Protege," Artemis answered briskly. "So, you'll be in the back, ready to rain down hell if this goes badly?" Selina wouldn't go into the building with them, and to be honest, Artemis didn't want her to, but she was their backup.

Not that they'd need it.

* * *

"Hi," Artemis said, twirling her brown hair around her finger. "I – I, um, I forgot my phone in my office. Can I just g-go grab it?"

"You got I.D?" the guard asked, holding out a hand expectantly without really looking. Artemis nodded, looking frantically through her purse overflowing with miscellaneous papers and pens. "Never mind. Just hurry up," the guard rolled his eyes when Artemis let out a distracted sigh, still looking through the bag. She nodded nervously, thanking him, before stealing through the doors.

"You missed your calling as an actress," Reid said, meeting up with her. It had been his job to put all the security cameras on their path on a continuous loop, rendering the two invisible.

"Yes, yes, I was meant for Broadway. Come on, we don't have a lot of time." Artemis and Reid quickly made their way down to the basement, following the blueprints that Selina had so kindly provided for them.

"Pass-code lock. DNA scanner..." Reid said when they came to a steel door. "This wasn't in the plans!"

"Oh, God, you are such an amateur." Artemis said, rolling her eyes and pushing him aside. She pressed her thumb against the scanner before sending a small jolt through the system. Reid gaped at her as she typed in the eight number combination and the door popped open.

"How did you do that?"

"Sportsmaster is my dad. Our DNA is similar. That, plus a little electrical cheating..." Artemis trailed off. "And you forget that I am an agent of the Light. I've been pilfering slips of paper for years. This combination just happened to be a lucky find from a few years ago."

"You're amazing."

"So I've been told." Artemis said, her sarcasm rising in proportion with her anxiety. They didn't have a lot of time left before the guard became suspicious. "You need to stand watch, okay? I'll call you when I need help."

"Artemis – " Reid started to object, but Artemis simply looked up at him. No smart-ass remark, no threat. Nothing. She was open to him for the first time since she'd been rescued. "Okay. Just call me."

"Will do," Artemis said before vanishing into the dark room. There were pods everywhere, some filled with people, others with creatures that she couldn't name (genomorphs, most likely, like Superboy), but none were the one she was looking for.

Until it was.

"Red," Artemis murmured, swiping her hand against the DNA scanner, before quickly editing it so that it didn't look like Sportsmaster had broken him out. That would be a touch too obvious. He looked the same as he had five years ago, but his right arm was bandaged, cut off a little below his shoulder. Artemis's lip curled in anger; that looked like it had been one hell of a fight. She wondered absently what the other guy looked like.

Artemis's thoughts snapped back to reality as the door to the stasis chamber slid open with a metallic hiss. For a moment, Red didn't move. He didn't breathe. He looked dead.

And then he opened his eyes. They didn't focus for a moment, but then something changed in them. Something so minute that Artemis herself barely caught it. He didn't blink, or look at her, but Red's eyes darkened with recognition. He opened his mouth to say something before his eyelids fluttered closed and he passed out cold. Artemis wanted to laugh at the irony, but her heart pounded with fear. She didn't know how he might react from being in stasis for so long – everyone reacted to being frozen differently. Not to mention the shock of having only part of his arm. That wouldn't help matters much.

"Reid!" Artemis shouted. "Help me!" Artemis was strong, but Red was taller and had to outweigh her by at least forty pounds. Reid was by her side in an instant, the clone taking his original's weight in stride. "Come on, back way out." Artemis started to lead the way, meaning to open up the doors for Reid, but something beeped in her purse. Their time was up. Artemis looked at the tiny monitor that was linked into the security camera system, seeing that the security guard had left his desk. She'd taken too long.

"You go out the back." Artemis said urgently, changing the plan. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point."

"Artemis – " Reid started to protest, but Artemis only spun, giving him a deadly look before turning away again, rushing to meet the guard before he could figure out that she hadn't been in "her" office at all.

"I'm so s-s-sorry," Artemis mumbled, shaking her phone nervously in his face."It took a long time to find. I'm so d-d-disorganized."

"Just making sure you didn't pass out," the guard said, smirking at her. Artemis blushed and squeaked away, hurrying out the door.

Into a SWAT team.

"_Ôi, tình yêu của Chúa Kitô!_" Artemis snarled. Oh, for the love of Christ! Why couldn't she just catch a break already? It wasn't like she was pulling off the heist of the century or anything. That had been last month. This month she just wanted to get Red back. Was that so difficult?

"Hello, boys," Artemis said with a jaunty smile. "Is this a social visit? Because I don't think I can squeeze you in for today."

"You are under arrest," one of the male SWAT guys said. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Well, see, here's the thing," Artemis said, crossing her arms. "I don't do well with handcuffs." Artemis launched into action, but before she could even make her first move, members of the SWAT team began dropping like flies. No sound, no pain, they just dropped.

"You looked like you needed some help," Selina said, walking casually through the crowd of men, decked out in her all-black Catwoman costume. All of the men in black had hit the floor, save one.

"May I?" Artemis asked graciously.

"Be my guest." Artemis grinned, exploding into motion, and leaped forward, pressing her lips against the man's. He stiffened, and in that moment, the drug took effect. "Nice trick." Selina said, one eyebrow raised.

"Likewise," Artemis said, gesturing to the fallen SWAT team. "What did you do?"

"There's gas rigged into my gloves," Selina explained, wiggling her fingers. "Light pressure sets it off."

"I like it." Artemis said, nodding her approval. But now was not the time to be getting the schematics for new toys. Now was the time to be getting to the rendezvous.

"How is he?" Artemis asked, when she and Selina finally made it to one of the many safehouses she'd set up within the city's limits.

"In hypothermic shock." Reid answered. "But he'll live." Reid started to leave, but Artemis caught his hand as he passed her.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Thank you for helping me get him back."

* * *

Artemis had finally fallen asleep when she felt a hand on hers. She startled awake, her stormy gray eyes flying open.

"Hey." Red was awake. Awake and talking. Artemis's eyes went wide with relief and she twined her fingers with his.

"Hey." Artemis murmured. She pressed her forehead against Red's. "I thought that I'd lost you." Red was quiet for a moment.

"You'll never lose me."

* * *

**Sorry no thank you's in this one. I'm so tired and school starts soon and I'm just so beyond stressed. Please forgive my lapse in quality for the moment.**

**~Fae**


	9. Chapter 9

"Artemis?" Reid came in. His timing seemed to be the opposite of Selina's: Completely inopportune and wholly annoying. "Oh," he said, stopping. "He's awake."

"You." Red snarled, somehow managing to leap up and position himself in front of Artemis. She blinked; stunned that he'd even been able to make himself stand upright. "Stay away from her!" Red wobbled a little bit and Artemis stood, placing a hand on his shoulder before he could do something that would reopen his wounds.

"Oi," she said sharply, stepping in between Red and Reid. Damn, that was going to get confusing. "Stop it before you hurt yourself. I'm not losing you again."

"But it – " Red protested as Artemis forced him down into a chair.

"_He_," she interrupted, "saved my life. On several occasions. He also helped get you back, so sit down and shut up. You two are going to deal with one another until I get this figured out."

"Get what figured out?" Red asks, practically spitting.

"How do deal with the two of you, since I owe him and I love you, idiot." Artemis said, ruffling Red's hair affectionately. But he didn't stand down. "Fine." Artemis said, conceding. "Reid, you mind giving us a minute?" Artemis's phone buzzed and she brightened marginally. "Ooh, my new outfit's done. Reid…"

"I'll pick it up for you," he said quickly, eager to get out of there.

"Since when were you so pal-y with clones?" Red said, sounding angry and ever-so-slightly hurt.

"Since he saved my life," Artemis replied coolly. "You missed a lot." She smiled a little. "I'm the one who's older than you now. Only by two years, but you know, still, I can drink and you can't."

"Why does your voice sound funny?" Red asked, abruptly changing the subject. Artemis smirked.

"Five years overseas. I spent a lot of time in England. Like I said, you missed a lot." Her eyes darted to his missing arm and her smile vanished.

"Yeah." Red said, his eyes following hers. "I figured that out."

"I'm sorry," Artemis said, biting her lip. "If I had found you sooner…" She had spent so much of her time abroad looking out for herself. Artemis hung her head; she should've been more focused on finding Red. She flinched, feeling his fingers twining through hers.

"Hey," he said gently. "You _did _find me, and we're together now, so that's all that matters." Artemis looked down, but Red squeezed her hand and she smiled. He was back and he was hers.

* * *

Red's recovery was complicated, what with his missing arm, but surprisingly quick. Despite his five-year stint in cyrostasis, he'd lost little muscle mass and was eager to get back in the game. Every day he trained for hours in Artemis's personal gym, while Artemis herself worked on the arm she'd designed for him, or ran jobs for the Light. Sometimes they trained together, but never for long. Red was like Artemis that way: They both needed time alone. But at night, they spent time together, and Artemis filled Red in on what he had missed. Not everything, per se, but more than she'd ever told anyone else. Reid knew enough not to come by the apartment when Red was there, and Selina had been curiously absent lately. Artemis had tried to find her, but Catwoman was a ghost – if she didn't want to be found, no one could find her.

Artemis respected that.

"So you're with the Light now?" Red asked one night between bites of cake. When Artemis had told him that she'd done a semester in culinary school, he'd laughed in her face. Which, of course, made her even more determined to prove that she _could_ cook, and that meant a lot of cake. "Is that where you go? When you leave the apartment at night, I mean."

"Yeah," Artemis said evenly, a little surprised that he'd noticed her late-night escapades. "I'm doubling for the League, though."

"Do they know? Does Oliver know?" Artemis shook her head. "You've got to tell them. They can protect you."

"Nightwing knows. And I can't come forward, not after everything I've done," Artemis replied. "The League has absolutely no reason to trust me, not after I skipped out for five years and then threw my affiliation with the Light in their faces. Besides, for it to be believable, the fewer people who know, the better. Unfortunately, that means if I'm caught by either side again, I'm screwed."

"Wait, hold on. Again? You've been caught?"

"Yeah." Artemis said shortly. "Reid got me out. Not fun." She didn't elaborate. Even months after, Artemis didn't like thinking about it.

"You're going to get yourself killed." Red said, worrying.

"Probably. But everyone dies sometime. But you can be damn sure that if I go down, I'll go down fighting."

"I'd rather you not go down at all." Red said quietly.

Artemis laughed. "Yeah, me too. Dying is not in the grand master plan…" she trailed off, hearing footsteps outside her door, followed by the sound of the door opening. "Hold on a second, will you?" She stood quickly and took out one of her knives.

"Selina?" Artemis said, seeing her friend at the door, casually licking an ice-cream cone.

"The one and only," the thief replied. "I found the kid wandering around."

"And you bought him ice-cream?" Artemis said, eying Jaime stuffing the last of his own cone into his mouth. The kid could eat, that was for sure.

Selina shrugged. "Your rug-rat grew on me."

"Hey!" Jaime protested, wiping his chin. "I'm not her rug-rat!"

"_Chico,_ if you're anyone's rug-rat, you're mine." Artemis said, ruffling his hair. She nodded towards the kitchen and Jaime whooped, helping himself to the contents of her fridge.

"So where have you been?" Artemis asked Selina when Jaime was out of earshot. "You haven't been around in weeks.

"Your little rescue kicked up one hell of a dust cloud. I figured that I should lay low." Selina explained, tossing something small and shiny in Artemis's direction. "But, you know better than most, dropping off the grid when you're a player is a surefire way to get yourself noticed. That's for letting me stay." Artemis peered at the rock in her hand and laughed.

"Diamond theft is laying low?"

"For me," Selina said, matching Artemis's grin. She took the key that Artemis had given her out of her pocket and made as if to give it back. Artemis shook her head.

"Keep it. You're welcome to stay here whenever you need a place to crash." Selina nodded and pocketed the key, as Artemis pocketed the diamond. She wasn't short on cash, but she still remembered being a poor kid from the Narrows. Where her mom still lived. Paula Crock could use a diamond.

"Artemis?" Red said from the doorway, his arms crossed over his conspicuously bare chest. Well, one arm was crossed. Red insisted on continuing to do motions that he used to do with two arms. Muscle memory, habit, stubbornness…Artemis knew that all three played a part. "I thought this place was off the grid."  
"It is. She's a friend."

"Damn," Selina said, looking Red up and down. "I can see why you were so eager to get him back." Red glared and Selina laughed. "And he's as moody as you are! It was meant to be. Well, it's been good seeing you, Artemis," she said, backing out of the door with a salute. Artemis grinned. Selina sure knew how to make an exit.

"Nice friend," Red commented drily. Clearly, he didn't like being objectified.

"Also one of the world's most renowned and infamous jewel thieves," Artemis added matter-of-factly. Red groaned.

"That should surprise me, but you having criminal pals…it really doesn't."

"I wouldn't call her a criminal, exactly," Artemis said, smiling. "More of a connoisseur of the moral gray area. Besides, I would've never gotten you back without her."

"Reid?" Jaime mumbled through a mouthful of food. His dark eyes narrowed as he took in Red's half of an arm. "Not Reid. Artemis, get back!" Jaime dropped the food he'd been carrying as blue armor crawled over his body. Within seconds, two sonic cannons were aimed at Red's chest. Red took a fighting stance of his own, whipping a folded crossbow out of his boot and aiming it at Jaime, but Artemis stepped in before either of them could do anything stupid.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Both of you, stand down. Oi, _basta_, Jaime!" Artemis said when neither put away their weapons. She quickly snatched the crossbow out of Red's hands and disabled it. "And Red, quit stealing my stuff!" Both boys backed off slightly, but neither lost their tension. Artemis had told Jaime to make himself scarce, which he had done, so he didn't know who Red was yet. Oops. Bad planning on her part. "Red, this is Jaime, my protégé. Jaime, this is Red, my boyfriend. He's the one I rescued a few weeks back."

"So he's with you?" Jaime asked.

"I trust him more than anyone, yes." Artemis replied. Red looked at her quickly, before he turned his eyes away. Jaime's amour started to peel away and he looked down sheepishly.

"Sorry, _hombre_," he said. "Artemis means a lot to me."

"The feeling's mutual." Red agreed. Artemis smiled and fished her phone out of her pocket when she felt it buzz. She scowled at the message.

"Damn," she murmured. "I've gotta go. Work." She looked meaningfully at Red. Jaime knew that she wasn't exactly honest, but he had no idea that she was working with the criminal organization that wanted nothing more than to see each and every Leaguer dead. That would be a little too much information for the kid, especially if he was interrogated by Batman. The less he knew, the safer he was. "I'll make you a deal, though," Artemis said, seeing Jaime's downtrodden look. "I'll meet you after? At your house. We can study for your biology test tomorrow." Jaime grinned. He didn't ask how Artemis knew that he had a biology test; she always knew stuff like that. "Deal?"

"Deal," Jaime said happily.

"You should go see Oliver," Artemis suggested softly when Jaime had gone. "He'll want to know that you're alive. God knows that he's lost enough of us." Artemis knew that he wanted to see Oliver. Red hadn't said anything, but she still knew.

"Yeah," Red said in affirmation. "You be safe, okay?"

"Me?" Artemis laughed. "Safe? Hardly."

* * *

"You rang?" Artemis said, decked out in her new uniform. Gone was the leotard and fishnets, to be replaced by a vicious orange and black costume, all armored plating, with a wicked face mask. It was flashy and Artemis loved it. She even switched up her weapon for the role of Tigress, now carrying a katana blade with her, though she always kept her bow and a couple dozen other goodies in her toolbelt. She'd even made a small adjustment to the mask so that when she wore it, her trademark and unmistakably blonde hair looked black. It was a holographic illusion, but worked in her favor.

"Yes," Ra's said, his hands clasped behind his back. "It seems that you are not the only child of one of ours to seek to join our ranks."

"You got a kid, Ra's?" Artemis asked jokingly. Ra's shook his head.

"No. However, I believe that you two may know one another." Artemis turned, hearing the sound of a hanger door opening. Black Manta stepped into the hall, still slightly wet, with someone behind him.

Someone who Artemis recognized immediately, and whose recognition made her feel sick to her stomach, though nothing showed on her face.

"Tigress, I assume that you know our ally Black Manta's son?" Ra's said. "Kaldur'ahm."

* * *

**I know it has been a long time, and for that, I am truly sorry. I would like to dedicate this to memyshadow: Lovely, were it not for you, I might've abandoned this story altogether.**

**~Fae**


	10. Chapter 10

Artemis didn't struggle to keep her face neutral – she'd been lying for far too long to get fazed by things such as complete and utter betrayal anymore.

"Damn, fish boy," she said with a sneer. "How the times have changed." Kaldur stood side-by-side with Black Manta, in matching black metal armor with red accents, though Kaldur's new outfit didn't come with a stupid mask like Manta's. "And I see you finally found your long-lost daddy."

"You knew?" Ra's asked, sounding pleased.

"You don't just keep me around for my looks," Artemis replied, grinning.

"Although I must say that your new outfit is much more fitting," Ra's complimented. Artemis smiled at him with a mock-curtsey.

"How is it that a girl knew of my son's affiliation with me?" Manta demanded.

"I make it my job to know people's dirty little secrets." Artemis said with a shrug. "I've known for a while now." She turned to Kaldur, though looking at him made her nauseous. "Although I must say, I'm surprised that you abandoned the League. You were always such a good little boy scout."

"Does the girl question my son's loyalty?" Manta asked, his voice edging on confrontational.

"No, no," Artemis said, waving her hands. "Just expressing my surprise."

"If I am not mistaken, you also abandoned your team to join your father, girl," Manta challenged.

Artemis cocked an eyebrow. "So I did. But the League never trusted me, not really." She smiled fondly. "I was always the loose cannon, the one they couldn't count on. Kaldur, here, however…he was our leader." Her eyes cut to Manta as he made a disgusted noise. "But I think that you're mad because I was invited to this party before your kid, Manta. I never took Atlanteans for chauvinism, but you may be changing my mind."

Why you – "

"Tigress, though I do admire your uncanny ability to cause conflict, that is not why you're here." Ra's interjected before Manta could finish. "Due to your…former association, the Light, and our Partner, believe that you would work well together. We already have a mission in mind, and this," Ra's said, looking at Black Manta and Kaldur, "may be what proves our Partner of your son's devotion to our cause. What say you, Tigress?"

"You ask the girl what she thinks before consulting my son?" Manta roared. Yep, definitely a chauvinist. Artemis grinned and fought the desire to stick out her tongue at him. She'd never met Manta, but he was proving to be everything Kaldur wasn't, an asshole for starters. But the grin slid off her face in an instant as the betrayal once again stabbed her in the heart. Artemis shook it away, locking her feelings down tight. She couldn't deal with them right now.

"We do." A new voice entered and Artemis's grin returned. Vandal Savage stepped into the room, his bulk filling the space. "Tigress has proven herself to be one of our most effective operatives. Your son is fairly new. With her guidance, he may be one of us, but without her help, he will never join the Light."

"So good to know you care," Artemis said sweetly. "What's the mission?" A holographic screen flashed into existence, with a face on it. Yet another face Artemis knew. Blue Beetle, Jaime's superhero identity.

"This hero, Blue Beetle, is wanted by our Partner," Ra's explained. "And they want him now."

"Now they're adding bugs to their collection of hostages?" Artemis asked, raising an eyebrow. She'd been part of many snatch-and-grabs of kids for the Partner, and she knew that the Team's Lagoon Boy had been captured as well. Hopefully, Nightwing had a plan to get them back. She hadn't exactly been covert about the kids going missing.

"That is none of your concern," Savage said abruptly. Artemis shrugged.

"Whatever. I'll get on it. Reward for the kid?"

"A bounty." Ra's agreed. Artemis twirled her knives absently and gestured to Kaldur.

"I'm game," she said. "You can come if you want."

"I see no reason not to accompany you." Kaldur said cordially. Artemis shrugged and walked out of the briefing room. Kaldur followed her and they walked in silence out of the Light HQ, into Gotham. Artemis led the way through winding alleys that she knew like the back of her hand.

"Much has changed for you," Kaldur said finally, just as they were reaching their destination. "You have made a place for yourself with the Light."

"I do better with criminals," Artemis replied lightly. "They are more accepting of crazy." She tapped her head.

"I never thought that you were crazy." Kaldur said quietly. Artemis laughed.

"Neither did I." Artemis said, whistling loudly with her fingers. Criminals melted out of the shadows, all of whom had been waiting for her call. Artemis had made sure to keep her ties with the underworld strong while she was abroad; everyone here knew and owed her. Catwoman, the Joker, even Falcone, and many others.

"T!" The Joker said jovially, throwing his skinny arms around Artemis's shoulders. Artemis hugged him back. "How goes, my lady? And who's the stiff in the goofy getup?"

"I'm good," Artemis said, grinning. "And the stiff's with me. He's an old friend. Black Manta's kid." The Joker looked at Kaldur with new respect, impressed in his own, deranged way. "Joker, Kaldur. Kaldur, the Joker. Good friend of mine."

"These are your friends?" Kaldur asked skeptically.

"I told you," Artemis said. "I do better with criminals." A holographic screen projected from the armored plating in her chest, displaying a picture of Blue Beetle. "This hero is wanted by the Light. The bounty will be worth your while. Full immunity for all crimes, and good favor with the Light, and our Partner. And I promise you, you'll want to be in on what we have in store." The criminals buzzed with curiosity and excitement. It was no secret that the Light had something big in store, and they all had a reason to get back at the Justice League. Artemis laughed, delighted at the effect her words had. "Now, shoo, you all have a hero to catch for me." The criminals dispersed in a matter of seconds. Only Catwoman lingered, giving Artemis a long look before vanishing as well. Artemis knew that she was going to get a stern talking-to when she got home.

"Okay," Artemis said, turning to Kaldur. "That's done. Now, I've got to go, fish boy, it was nice catching up."

"Where are you going?"

"Not your business," Artemis replied. "What, you think that now that we're working together that we're bosom buddies? I'll catch you later, Kaldur." Artemis threw down a packet of black powder and vanished into the night, just like the criminals before her.

* * *

Alfred heard the doorbell ring at three in the morning at Wayne Manor and had expected drunken teenagers playing a prank.

What he got was somewhat different.

"'Sup, Alfie?" Artemis asked, no longer dressed as Tigress, but in civilian clothing, her blonde hair unbound and wild. "Nice to see you, buddy," she said, taking a long swig out of the tequila bottle in her hand. It was almost gone.

"Miss Artemis?" Alfred said, surprised to say the least.

"Hey, that's me!" she said, clapping him on the shoulder and pushing her way into the Manor. "Oh, hey, Alfie, mind calling down Dick for me? I gotta talk to him 'bout something."

"Miss Artemis, are you intoxicated?"  
"Shit-faced," Artemis agreed. "It's cool, though, I can call Dick myself." She waved the black remote-control she'd swiped from Alfred and pressed the blue button. "'Kay. He's coming now." Artemis meandered past Alfred, who could do nothing to stop her but stare, and flopped onto the couch in the mansions living room. She kept drinking the tequila, watching as the room started spinning. She hadn't been this drunk since she was fourteen and broken into her mother's liquor cabinet.

"Artemis?" Dick's voice stopped the room from spinning. Aw.

"Hiya!" Artemis said happily, jumping upward and drunkenly throwing her arms around his neck.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dick asked, grabbing Artemis's arm and towing her along behind him. "You can't be here!"

"You're strong," Artemis said, stumbling as Dick pulled her into the library and locked the doors.

"What are you doing here?" Dick asked again, more urgently this time.

"I'm a double-agent," Artemis said loudly. "Shhh! So I have some doubly-agent-y stuff to tell you."

"What, then? Artemis, we have to get you out of here, before Batman comes back!"

"Not so worried about him." Artemis slurred. "More worried about the Light. And Kaldur. He's with them now, you know?"

"Kaldur?" Dick repeated, nonplussed.

"Yep. All buddy-buddy with the Light. His dad's Black Manta, too, in case you didn't already know that. Oh, and he and me are all teamed up, now."

"Oh my God." Dick murmured. Artemis nodded sagely. "Wait. What is it? What do they want you to do?" Dick knew, better than anyone, that Artemis was tough. She could handle anything – or at least, that's what he had thought. Something bad must be going down; why else would Artemis try to numb herself with alcohol?

"Kaldur and I have to get Jaime. Blue Beetle. My kid." Artemis twirled with her arms flung wide and some of the tequila sloshed out of the bottle. She spun until she couldn't see and then fell to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. Her blonde hair obscured her face. "Oops. I touched your couch."

"What?" Dick said, trying to wrap his head around everything. It didn't make things easier with Artemis spouting babble.

"I'm cursed. I think so. Yes, cursed." Artemis said, talking mostly to herself. "Everything I touched goes straight to hell. So I'd burn that couch before it spontaneously combusts. Because I thought I was helping. I tried to help. I did. But now Jaime is in danger and I have to give him to the Light or they'll kill us both." Artemis looked up at Dick, her gray eyes shining through her curtain of hair. "Why can't I save anyone?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "Everyone I get close to gets hurt." Artemis could feel herself getting lethargic. Maybe a bottle and a half of tequila wasn't such a good idea. "I think the world would be safer…without me in it." She vaguely felt Dick scooping her up into his arms, but she didn't have the strength to do anything about it.

"I don't want to be in a world you're not in, Artemis," he said. But Artemis might've heard wrong.

* * *

"Ow." Artemis woke up slowly, wincing when she opened her eyes. The light burned like fire and didn't help her already-throbbing head.

"Ah, Miss Artemis, so good you've decided to join us at last." Alfred said. Artemis sat up slowly, her hands firmly covering her eyes. She jumped and yelped, as something stuck into her arm.

"Ow. What was that?" she asked, but even her own voice was much too loud.

"Something I use when Master Dick has had too much to drink."

"Dick drinks?"

"More than you might think." Speak of the devil. Artemis turned, wincing, but already beginning to feel a little better. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a bus. Damn. How much did I drink?"

"A liquor store," Alfred said matter-of-factly and Dick laughed. "Although you seem to be recovering much more quickly than Master Dick, here." Artemis smirked.

"Fast metabolism. Jesus, what time is it?"

"About eight in the morning." Artemis swore violently and leaped, earning herself a crushing wave of nausea. "I've got to go." Artemis snatched the drug-gun that Alfred had stunk her with and gave herself another shot. "I've got to go." She'd blown off Jaime last night.

"Hey," Dick said, grabbing onto her arm and stopping her short. "We're going to figure this out. You, Kaldur, Jaime, everything. He's not going to get hurt, I promise." Artemis looked at her friend and ex-teammate, her eyes almost glowing.

"Yes, he is," she said after a long silence. "Of course he's going to get hurt, because if he doesn't, then he dies, I die, and you lose your double-agent. Besides, pain is the name of the game I'm playing here, isn't it?" Artemis took a deep breath. "But whatever's going to happen next, it's going to happen on my terms."

"We're going to figure all of this out," Dick insisted. "Together." Artemis didn't respond, but then nodded.

"I'll be in touch," she said, heading for the exit. "And Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."


	11. Chapter 11

No one noticed the blonde woman as she slipped through the hallways of El Paso High School. She hadn't checked in at the office, no one had ever seen her before, but somehow, despite all of that, she managed to escape notice. Which was odd, considering the teenagers in El Paso were always starved for a new face. Not so odd considering that Artemis had been hiding in plain sight for eleven years. She did it well.

"_Hola_," Artemis said, falling into step with Jaime. He jumped, dark eyes wide.

"_Mierda!_" Jaime swore. "Artemis, what are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue you," she replied, smiling.

"Where were you last night? I thought you'd been caught or killed or something." The grin melted off of Artemis's face and she looked down.

"Look, would you believe me if I told you that I had a really, _really_ long night?" Artemis tried. Jaime wanted to give her a hard time, but there was something in her eyes that made him reconsider.

"_Es buena,_" Jaime said, smiling. "Is everything okay?"

"Not so much," Artemis said tersely. "Come on, we're playing hooky." Jaime started to object and Artemis gave him a look. "Are you seriously arguing with me when I'm breaking you out of school? Really?"

"I guess not," Jaime said with a grin, a grin that dropped in almost the next second. A broad-shouldered kid with beady eyes pushed through the crowd, coming to stand in front of Artemis and Jaime.

"'Sup, Jaime?" the kid leered. Artemis stood still, waiting for Jaime to say something, or maybe deck the bigger kid. There was something about his cocky smile that Artemis didn't like. But Jaime stayed silent, much to her surprise. "Who's the _gringa_?" When Jaime didn't answer, the big kid took a step closer and shoved him. Artemis wanted to snap his arm, but Jaime didn't react.

"_Mi prima._" My cousin, Jaime answered quietly, looking down. Artemis blinked in surprise. What the holy hell was going on here? Why was Jaime letting this kid talk down to him? Was he being…being _bullied_? Jaime, who'd sworn at her during training and used her dishes as weapons when they'd first met; the kid who was so much smarter than he let on, and brave enough to stand up to Batman…was being bullied by some punk who he could've killed in .2 seconds? What the _hell_?

"_La gringa es su prima?_" The white girl is your cousin? Artemis wanted to step in, but she knew that it would make things worse.

"Yes," Jaime said softly. The bigger kid smirked and shoved him aside, winking suggestively as he passed Artemis.

"Well then, I guess the hot genes skipped you," he said. Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Jaime, we're leaving," she said, tugging him along. The big kid swore at Jaime in Spanish, obviously thinking that Artemis couldn't understand. Bastard.

"Okay, what gives?" Artemis demanded as soon as they were well out of range of anyone looking from the school.

"What do you mean?" Jaime hedged.

"I mean, why didn't you stand up for yourself? You could've kicked that kid's ass into next week."

"I'm not a hero here," Jaime answered quietly. "I'm just Jaime Reyes. I don't have any powers and I don't want attention. It's easier to fly under the radar." Artemis wanted to disagree, but she couldn't.

"Dammit," she grumbled. "That was well-thought-out and logical. I still say that you should've punched him."

"Course you do, beauty queen." Jaime said, grinning. "Sorry, but I don't think I can take advice from someone who probably was a cheerleader in high school." Artemis looked at him, open-mouthed, but didn't have a chance to retaliate as he ducked into a small dive off of the side of the road. It was a good place – Artemis didn't know about the food, but it was easily defensible: Small, contained, with two exits that she could see, and thin walls, in case they had to make their own.

"Nice place," Artemis complimented as they sat down and ordered food and drinks. He'd taken her mentoring to heart, at least when it came to safe places to hide out. "And for your information, I identify more with your high-school experience than you might think."

"You?" Jaime said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, me." Artemis replied. "I wasn't born this naturally suave." Jaime laughed and Artemis smirked. "Basically, I was the kid everyone avoided. I started fights, I lit things on fire, I stole the principal's pet poodle."

"You did what?"

"I hated the dog, and the principal was a dick," Artemis said. Jaime looked vaguely impressed. Artemis laughed and told him the story as their food arrived.

"Well, there go all of my mental images of you as prom queen," Jaime said when she was finished. Artemis hurled her fork at him, laughing.

"Prom queen? I didn't even go to my senior prom. I didn't even graduate."

"Whoa, arsonist, thief, dropout?" Jaime said. "_Jesus_, your authority problems went back longer than I thought."

"I've never been the good one. I guess when you're a twin, there's always a good and a bad one. She was always – " Artemis's words cut off abruptly. Was she _still_ drunk? Hell.

"You're a twin?" Jaime asked, looking intrigued.

"Not the topic of conversation." Artemis said quickly.

"You have a sister? What was she like?" Jaime's mind spun, thinking of two Artemis's. How had they not taken over the world already? "Does she look like you? Was she a hero like you were? Is she a criminal? What's here name? What's she like."

Artemis blinked, trying to process all of the questions at the same time before snapping. "She's dead!" Jaime's mouth shut with an audible noise and he looked down at his food.

"I'm sorry," Jaime murmured. "I – "

"It was years ago." Artemis replied. "Besides, I don't think she'd be too happy with how I turned out." Damn. She had wanted this to be fun. Nothing killed a mood like talking about your dead sister. "Look, Jaime. I have to tell you something."

"Why you were_ borracha_ last night?" Jaime said. "You're good at hiding it, but when you've lived with a drunk, you learn to tell when people are hung over. What happened?"

"There's a hit out on you." Artemis said, not sugar-coating it. "A Light-sanctioned hit." Artemis didn't mention that she was the one who was supposed to see it through. Jaime paled violently and Artemis wished she could take it all back. She never should've involved him. He could've lived with the Scarab. He didn't have to become a hero – that was her doing. Her fault.

"For Blue Beetle, or Jaime Reyes?"

"Blue," Artemis replied. "Your ID is safe. The hit is for capture, not death, but…"

"But the people after me aren't known for taking prisoners." Jaime finished.

"Yes."

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"No!" Artemis said sharply. "Jaime, _chico_, look at me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. If Nightwing knows what's good for him, he's going to keep you out of the field for a while, at least until I can figure out a way to handle this."

"But – "

"No. No buts. You're my responsibility and my kid and I'm not letting you get hurt. You got that?" Jaime didn't answer for a few long minutes, and then he nodded slowly.

"_Si_."

* * *

Artemis paid the check and walked Jaime out the restaurant's back door.

"I can get home from here." Jaime said.

"I'll walk you," Artemis replied.

"I'm fine." Liar.

"Yeah, well I'm not." Artemis said. "So let me make sure you get home okay, for my sake." Jaime nodded and Artemis put her hand on his shoulder.

She knew El Paso pretty well and was easily able to avoid main roads or any security cameras. It was still unsafe for Jaime to be seen with her, now even more so with the bounty on his hero counterpart's head, but Artemis needed to make sure that he was okay. Needless to say, she kept one hand on her knives at all times.

They were almost home free when Artemis felt eyes on her back. She tensed slightly, invisible to the naked eye, and kept walking.

"Jaime, when I tell you, run," she hissed into his ear.

"What?" Jaime murmured in reply.

"Someone is watching us." Artemis pushed him out of the way as she was shoved from behind. "Jaime, run!" The kid took off and Artemis sprang to her feet, only to be sent flying from a blow to her left. But when she looked up, there was no-one there. Nothing but a blur in the air. A speedster. Artemis snarled, taking out her knives and readying them. Whoever it was, he was short. Artemis pointed her knives downwards and focused on taking small, measured steps. She knew how to fight speedsters. Stay quick. Find their pattern and then use it against them.

Meanwhile, Jaime leaped into the air, his armor snapping into place and metallic wings supporting him. He saw Artemis dodging whatever was attacking her with small, quick steps, both of her knives ready. She clearly knew what she was doing. Whoever was attacking her stopped for just a millisecond, and the Scarab zoomed in on the face. It was blurred, but Jaime could recognize a white and red uniform, and shocking red hair.

"Artemis, don't!" Jaime yelled, as Artemis hurled one of her daggers through the air. There was a yell and the speedster was revealed, pinned against the wall of the alley. Artemis ignored him and pounced onto the speedster's chest, one of her gloves already on her hands, claws extended and pointed at her attacker's throat.

"Who are you?" she demanded of the red-haired boy who reminded her a lot of another speedster she knew.

"I could ask you the same thing," the speedster replied. "And I could also ask you why you were threatening Blue!"

"His name is Bart," Jaime said, landing beside Artemis. "He's a part of the team. He's from the future. She wasn't threatening me, _idioto_."

"Hell," Artemis swore. Someone from the future, and the League? That was just what she needed: Someone else knowing about her and Jaime, and who could change all of time and space by stepping on a butterfly. This wasn't going to go over well. "Jaime, is your mom home?"

"No."

"Good."

"What are you – " Jaime started as Artemis drew one of her claws across the speeder's chest. Bart yelped in pain.

"Jaime, pop quiz. What's now in your friend's bloodstream?" She held up one of her claws for analysis.

"Inhibitor serum." Jaime said after a moment. "You can't run, _ese_."

"Very good." Artemis hauled Bart to his feet. "Come on, we're going to have a chat."

"Jaime, who is this chic?" Bart demanded as Artemis dumped him onto the floor of Jaime's kitchen.

"My mentor," Jaime replied, after Artemis had waved her hand, giving him the okay to speak. She was going to have to handle this – but she couldn't kill the speedster, not if Jaime knew him, or if the League would notice his absence.

"Your mentor? I thought that was Ted Kord."

"No, Ted Kord is dead," Artemis said. "I, however, am not." Bart looked at her hard for a moment, before recognition dawned on his face.

"Artemis. You're Artemis! The Artemis that's got the statue in the Cave. You look good for someone who's dead. Does the League know that you're alive? Why are you hiding? And – "

"Kindly tell your friend to shut up," Artemis said through her teeth to Jaime.

"_Hombre_,_ silencio_." Jaime said quickly. He could tell that Artemis was getting pissed and antsy, and that wasn't a combination that bode well for the person who made her that way. "Look, Artemis and I…our relationship with the League is sketchy at best."

"Your relationship? Like the _two_ of you?"

"No. Mine." Artemis said, throwing Jaime a look. "_I've_ got League issues…Jaime, you think he'll be noticed if he doesn't come back?"

"Definitely." Jaime said, nodding.

"Whoa, Jaime, buddy. This is starting to feel like a double-team. So not crash." Artemis ignored him, pacing. She couldn't alter Bart's memory without hurting him, and besides, speedsters had an annoyingly high recovery time for brain cells. Most cells, actually. There was every chance that he could regain his memory. Artemis looked at Jaime, her eyes asking him to keep Bart occupied while she thought of something.

"_Dicirle la verdad, pero no demasiado,"_ Artemis said quietly. Tell him the truth, but not too much. Artemis paced back and forth. Someone else knew their secret. Someone who clearly was a big enough motor-mouth to go blab about it.

And who reminded her of another red-haired, motor-mouthed speedster.

"You're from the future you said?" Artemis said out of nowhere, cutting Jaime off in mid-sentence.

"Yeah," Bart replied. "What of it?"

"You're an Allen, aren't you? You're a part of the Flash family."

"How did you…?"

"I stopped asking that question months ago," Jaime said. "She's good at that kind of stuff. Don't question it, just go with it."

"Okay, Bart. I'm bringing you home."

Artemis knew that Wally had left the superhero life. He was in college now, and he was doing well. Artemis was proud of that – he had always been brilliant, if ADHD. She knew that just showing up at his apartment wasn't exactly subtle, but it was the best way to deliver Bart back to the League safely and keep Wally from punching her in the face for not telling him that she was still alive.

Oh, who was she kidding? Artemis missed Wally and she was using Bart as an excuse to go see him.

"So, how do you know my great-grandpa?" Bart asked after a long, awkward silence. Artemis was driving him to Star City. He'd show up on the Zeta and that could be suspicious.

"Look, kid." Artemis said gruffly. "I don't give a damn about you. Or the future, or the League, for that matter. But I do care about Jaime. And if the League finds out about his affiliation with me, he's going to get hurt. There's already a hit out for Blue Beetle."

"There is?" Bart asked.

"Yes." Artemis pulled up to the curb outside Wally's apartment with a screech of tires and pulled Bart out of the car. "So if anything happens to Jaime, or if the League comes hunting me down, you're the one I'll be gunning for. And if you're smart, that scares you." Artemis pulled him up the stairs and knocked on Wally's door.

"Hey, West," Artemis said when Wally opened the door. "I brought you a present."


End file.
